People v. Paredes
| Decision Date | 16 January 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. E040123.,E040123. |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Manuel Ortega PAREDES et al., Defendants and Appellants. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
Lise S. Jacobson, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Defendants Daniel Loreto Noriega and Manuel Ortega Paredes were charged in the same information with the first degree, premeditated murder of Cesar Cortez. (Pen.Code, § 187, subd. (a).)1 It was further alleged that the murder was committed in the course of a carjacking and robbery or attempted carjacking and robbery (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)), and that Noriega personally and intentionally discharged a firearm in the commission of the murder (§ 12022.53, subd. (d)).
Defendants were tried together before separate juries. The juries found defendants guilty of first degree murder and found the special-circumstance allegations true. Noriega's jury also found the firearm allegation true. Both defendants were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Noriega was sentenced to an additional 25 years to life for the firearm enhancement.
A third defendant, Juan Diego Vasquez, pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and a firearm enhancement in exchange for a sentence of 12 years and his agreement to testify truthfully at trial. Following his plea agreement, Vasquez was diagnosed with cancer and the court ordered a conditional examination. The examination was held on June 1, 2005. Vasquez died on November 11, 2005, before trial commenced in December 2005. A videotape of the examination was played to both juries. Paredes and Noriega appeal, but do not join each other's contentions.
In the unpublished portion of this opinion, we address Paredes's contentions that (1) there is insufficient evidence to support his jury's true finding on the carjacking/robbery special-circumstance allegations, and (2) the trial court deprived him of his constitutional right to testify by refusing to accommodate his request that he testify only before his own jury. We reject these claims and affirm the judgment against Paredes in its entirety. Also in the unpublished portion of this opinion, we address Noriega's claim that the trial court erroneously admitted a confession he made to Paredes while the two of them were in police custody. We conclude that the confession was properly admitted.
In the published portion of this opinion, we address Noriega's further claim that the trial court abused its discretion and violated his federal and state constitutional rights in ordering the removal of his courtappointed counsel, the Riverside County Public Defender's Office and Deputy Public Defender James Ashworth. We also agree that the disqualification and removal of the public defender was an abuse of the trial court's discretion and violated Noriega's right to counsel under the state Constitution, and that the error is reversible per se. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment against Noriega.2
In 2001, Vasquez and Paredes were using and selling methamphetamine "fronted" or loaned to them by a group called Circulo De La Familia (La Familia). Paredes and Vasquez would divide the methamphetamine they received, loan portions of it to others, and retain some of it for their personal use. Vasquez would pay La Familia for the drugs when the customers paid him.
In the fall of 2001, Vasquez received three to five ounces of methamphetamine from La Familia. He divided it into thirds. He loaned one-third, or $750 worth of it, to his best friend Cesar Cortez, and another third to a man known as Payaso. Vasquez and Paredes kept the other one-third for their personal use.
By early November 2001, Vasquez and Paredes still owed La Familia $1,500, and La Familia was pressuring Vasquez for payment. Payaso was in jail at the time and unable to pay. Fearing La Familia would hurt him, his family, or his friends if he did not pay, Vasquez focused on collecting Cortez's debt. Paredes was angry because Cortez had failed to pay his debt.
On Thursday, November 8, Vasquez went to Cortez's house where he lived with his brother, Dario. Vasquez told Dario that Cortez owed him money for drugs, Cortez had until November 10 to get the money, and "something bad" would happen if he failed to pay. Vasquez also told Dario his "cousins" "weren't bullshitting."3 Vasquez also gave Dario a letter for Cortez which Dario gave to Cortez the next day. Cortez promised to pay Vasquez on Saturday, November 10, but failed to do so.
On Monday, November 12, Paredes called Vasquez and told him it was time to collect the debt from Cortez. Paredes's sister, Antonia, agreed to loan her blue Ford Escort to Paredes and Noriega, after they assured her, they were going to her mother's house and not to Vasquez's house. Noriega was Antonia's boyfriend, and Noriega and Paredes were friends. Noriega was not involved in Vasquez's and Paredes's drug dealings, however.
Around 7:00 p.m. on November 12, Paredes and Noriega arrived at Vasquez's house in the Escort. From there, Vasquez drove the three of them to Cortez's house in Vasquez's Grand Am. Vasquez spoke with Cortez about paying the debt, while Paredes and Noriega waited in the Grand Am Cortez told Vasquez he did not have the money but he would pay the following morning. Vasquez trusted Cortez, and agreed to wait until the following morning for payment. Vasquez described the conversation as friendly.
On the way back to Vasquez's house, Vasquez told Paredes about his agreement with Cortez. Paredes was angry; he said Cortez was not a man of his word and he had already had enough time to pay the debt. He also said he was going to return to Cortez's house and take his car. Noriega offered to help. The two of them discussed using violence, if necessary, to take the car.
After Vasquez, Paredes, and Noriega returned to Vasquez's house, Noriega got in the Escort while Paredes and Vasquez went inside the house. Paredes obtained an AK-47 rifle that he and Vasquez owned. The rifle was in a case. Paredes also obtained a screwdriver and slim jim.
Vasquez warned Paredes not to do anything "stupid" and not to involve him in anything. Paredes told Vasquez he was only going to Cortez's house to take his car. He also said he was going to "clear things up" with Cortez, which Vasquez understood as meaning he was going to "get whatever he wanted" from Cortez. Paredes then drove away in the Escort with Noriega.
Around 8:00 p.m., Paredes and Noriega arrived at Cortez's house. Paredes got out of the car, knocked on the front door, and identified himself to Dario as Manuel. Dario had just gotten out of the shower and opened the door in his boxer shorts. Paredes told Dario he was looking for Cortez. Dario shut the door and told Cortez that Paredes was outside looking for him.
Dario suspected something was wrong and that Paredes was going to carjack Cortez. Dario walked down the hall and began putting on his pants. As he did so, he heard Cortez yell his name. He opened the door, took a few steps outside, and asked what was going on. Dario saw Noriega at their gate, pointing a gun at him. Dario heard Cortez say,
Dario ran back inside, shut the door, and tried to get to the telephone. About 10 seconds later, he heard a gunshot. He ran outside and saw Cortez hanging halfway out of his car door. Cortez had been shot. Paredes and Noriega ran from Cortez's driveway to the Escort and fled.
Cortez bled to death from the gunshot wound. Forensic and ballistics evidence showed that a copper-jacketed bullet fired from the AK-47 passed through the back window of Cortez's car and entered his back, just below his left shoulder blade. The bullet pierced his heart, lung, and liver before lodging in his gall bladder.
A deputy found Cortez's car keys and a glass smoking pipe on his person. Other deputies found pay/owe sheets, a plastic baggie with a trace of a white powdery substance, and a portable scale in Cortez's bathroom.
After the shooting, Paredes and Noriega returned home to Rubidoux where they shared a converted garage with Antonia and her daughter. Antonia heard the two men whispering. She was angry because she knew they had gone to Vasquez's house even though she told them Vasquez should take care of his own debts and not to get involved. She sensed something bad had happened, but Paredes and Noriega would not tell her anything. Instead, Paredes asked her to say he was with his girlfriend all evening if anyone asked.
Antonia called Vasquez and asked him whether he had gotten Paredes in trouble. She told Vasquez to say Paredes was with his girlfriend that evening if anyone asked.
Later that night, Paredes tried to sell the AK-47 to Sylvia Higareda, the person who owned the home with the converted garage. Higareda and Vasquez were friends. Higareda, who only saw the rifle case, did not purchase the rifle. The next day, Higareda saw Paredes in her backyard with something that looked like a piece of wood or a rifle. Paredes told Higareda he was looking for some wood to put in the window because of the cold. Higareda never saw Noriega with a firearm.
Deputies arrested Vasquez on November 13. He told the deputies that Paredes and Noriega were involved in the shooting and showed them where they...
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