People v. Rangel

Citation62 Cal.4th 1192,200 Cal.Rptr.3d 265,367 P.3d 649
Decision Date28 March 2016
Docket NumberNo. S076785.,S076785.
CourtUnited States State Supreme Court (California)
Parties The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Pedro RANGEL, Jr., Defendant and Appellant.

62 Cal.4th 1192
367 P.3d 649
200 Cal.Rptr.3d 265

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
Pedro RANGEL, Jr., Defendant and Appellant.

No. S076785.

Supreme Court of California

March 28, 2016.


200 Cal.Rptr.3d 274

Charles M. Bonneau, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.

Edmund G. Brown, Jr., and Kamala D. Harris, Attorneys General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Ward A. Campbell, Kathleen A. McKenna, Brian Alvarez and Michael Dolida, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

KRUGER, J.

367 P.3d 657
62 Cal.4th 1198

A jury convicted defendant Pedro Rangel, Jr., of the first degree murders of Juan Uribe and Chuck Durbin. (Pen.Code § 187, subd. (a) ; id., former § 189.) The jury also found true a multiple-murder special-circumstance allegation and, as to Durbin's murder, a personal firearm use sentence-enhancement allegation. (Pen.Code § 190.2, subd. (a)(3) ; id., former §§ 1203.06, subd. (a), 12022.5, subd. (a).) The jury returned a death verdict and the trial court entered a judgment of death. This appeal is automatic. (Cal. Const. art. VI, § 11, subd. (a); Pen.Code § 1239, subd. (b).) For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment.

62 Cal.4th 1199

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

A. Guilt Phase

On the night of October 7, 1995, defendant, his son Pedro Rangel III (Little Pete),1 Rafael Avila, and Richard Diaz

200 Cal.Rptr.3d 275

drove to the Madera home of Chuck Durbin in search of Juan Uribe. Defendant and Little Pete entered the home and shot and killed Durbin and Uribe and wounded Durbin's wife Cynthia (Cindy) Durbin.

Little Pete's case was severed from defendant's before trial. Avila fled after the crime but Diaz testified against defendant at trial.2 Defendant was also linked to the crime by his statements and by ballistics evidence.

1. Prosecution evidence

a. Events before the murders

On September 23, 1995, about two weeks before Uribe's murder, he and Martha Melgoza, the mother of his daughter, attended a baptism party at a Madera reception hall. They saw Little Pete arguing with Carlos Romero and David Varela. Uribe was good friends with both Little Pete and Varela. Jesse Candia, Varela's uncle, suggested Little Pete and Varela "fight and get it over with," but Varela refused, explaining Little Pete had a gun. Candia and Romero told Little Pete to leave the party, and Romero punched Little Pete in the face. Little Pete looked at Uribe and asked him, "[W]hat's up?" and "Juan, why don't you back me up?" Juan shook his head and said, "No" and "It was none of my business." Little Pete left in his BMW.

Little Pete told Richard Diaz he was upset with Uribe for not backing him up and wanted to get even. Little Pete, Diaz, and Florentino (Tino) Alvarez slowly drove by the baptism party in Little Pete's BMW but did not stop. Diaz described how "everybody started running" and "they shut the front doors."

367 P.3d 658

Melgoza and Uribe left the party later that evening. As they drove, they were stopped by Little Pete and Tino Alvarez. When Uribe got out of the car to see what the men wanted, Alvarez asked him why he had hit Little Pete.

62 Cal.4th 1200

Uribe denied hitting Little Pete, and said Little Pete should know who hit him. Alvarez punched Uribe.

Later that night, Varela was driving a friend home from the baptism party when he saw Uribe, Romero, and several others standing on the street. Little Pete drove by in his BMW with Diaz in the front seat. Several shots were fired out of the passenger side of the BMW. As Varela drove away, more shots were fired. He noticed Little Pete's BMW behind him. A bullet grazed Little Pete's head.

On September 24, 1995, Jesse Rangel, defendant's nephew, who was living in Fresno, learned that his cousin Little Pete had been shot. Jesse3 visited Little Pete in Madera. Tino Alvarez told Jesse that Juan Uribe had shot Little Pete. In retaliation, Jesse and Alvarez fired several bullets into Uribe's car. Jesse did not see Uribe or anyone else in the area, and there had been no discussion of shooting Uribe if they saw him. At trial, Jesse denied ever shooting at Uribe.

b. Events on the night of the murders

On October 7, 1995, Richard Diaz attended a barbecue at defendant's house. Little Pete and Rafael Avila, who was married to defendant's stepdaughter Endora Avila, also were there. Defendant was angry about his son "getting shot in the head" and spoke about "getting back" at

200 Cal.Rptr.3d 276

Juan Uribe. Defendant said "he wasn't going to let anybody get away with shooting his son in the head," and wanted to go look for Uribe.

Defendant asked to borrow Avila's car but Avila told defendant he would drive because defendant "was too drunk." Defendant, Diaz, Little Pete, and Avila got into Avila's car. They drove to Uribe's house but did not see his car there. As they drove to a different location, they noticed Uribe's car parked across the street from victim Durbin's home on East Central Avenue in Madera. Durbin lived with his wife Cindy and three children, who were seven, six, and three years old. The Durbins also had three visitors that night, Juan Uribe, Alvin Areizaga, and Richard Fitzsimmons. Diaz saw people in the house and noticed that two children were watching television in the front room.

Defendant, Little Pete, and Diaz got out of the car, and Avila drove away slowly. About 10:00 p.m., Diaz stood across the street while defendant, armed with a .380–caliber weapon, and Little Pete, armed with a .22–caliber rifle, entered the house through an unlocked screen door.

62 Cal.4th 1201

Little Pete asked where Juan Uribe was. When Uribe appeared, Little Pete asked him: "What's up, Juan Uribe? What's up now?" He then shot and killed Uribe. Durbin ran through the living room but defendant grabbed him and shot him. From across the street, Diaz fired two shots through the living room window to encourage defendant and Little Pete to leave. Defendant and Little Pete ran out of the house, and Diaz stopped Avila, who was driving by. The men got into the car and drove off. Little Pete said that he "got Juan Uribe" and thought he had killed him. Defendant said that he had shot Durbin because he thought he was "running to get a gun." Defendant accidentally fired two shots in the car while trying to unload his weapon.

Cindy Durbin, Chuck Durbin's wife, testified she heard a big bang and walked into the living room to check on her children. She saw two armed Hispanic men with dark hair and wearing baseball caps standing in the house; she was "80 to 90 percent sure" one of the men was defendant. The men began shooting and one or both "scream[ed]" they were "going to get" Juan and said "Juan was a traitor" and "now he was dead" or "going to die." Cindy ran into the kitchen where Chuck told her to hide. Chuck ran into the living room. When the shooting stopped, Uribe's bullet-ridden body was on top of Cindy. Cindy had been shot in the abdomen, and bullets had grazed her legs. She found Chuck with bullet holes in his head and neck on the living room floor. He

367 P.3d 659

raised his hands to his face and tried to speak but she could not understand him. She took their children into a bedroom and asked Areizaga to call 911.

c. Events after the murders

On the night of October 7, 1995, Endora Avila, defendant's stepdaughter and Rafael Avila's wife, was returning from a church revival when she saw Rafael's car "flying" across Yosemite Street in Madera. When Endora arrived home, Rafael was not there. Rafael came home later that night and "banged on the door like a cop." He was "[n]ervous" and pulled on his hair. His pants were wet almost to his knees. Rafael removed his clothes and threw them in the trash. Later that night Endora's stepbrother, Little Pete, "bang[ed] on the door" and he and Rafael argued. Endora did not see Rafael the next day, and had only seen him once since that night for about a 15–minute period.

Also on the night of October 7, 1995, during the 10:00 o'clock news, Jesse Rangel,

200 Cal.Rptr.3d 277

who was in Fresno, received a telephone call from Little Pete. Little Pete told Jesse he "got Juan." Later that night, Jesse was awakened by a second call from Little Pete, who sounded drunk and was laughing. Little Pete said he had killed "Juan," and that defendant, "Richard, [and] Rafael" also were involved....

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2 cases
  • People v. Rangel, S076785.
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court (California)
    • 28 Marzo 2016
    ...62 Cal.4th 1192367 P.3d 649200 Cal.Rptr.3d 265The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,v.Pedro RANGEL, Jr., Defendant and Appellant.No. S076785.Supreme Court of CaliforniaMarch 28, 2016.200 Cal.Rptr.3d 274Charles M. Bonneau, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.Ed......
  • People v. Perry
    • United States
    • California Court of Appeals
    • 3 Noviembre 2023
    ...§ 1250, subd. (a); People v. Riccardi (2012) 54 Cal.4th 758, 823 (Riccardi), disapproved on another ground in People v. Rangel (2016) 62 Cal.4th 1192, 1216.) A declarant's descriptions or assessments of the victim's actions affecting her state of mind or conduct are admissible nonhearsay, "......

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