People v. Ware
| Citation | 14 Cal.5th 151,520 P.3d 601,301 Cal.Rptr.3d 511 |
| Decision Date | 01 December 2022 |
| Docket Number | S263923 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Victor WARE et al., Defendants and Appellants. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Court (California) |
Nancy Olsen, Encinitas, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant Nicholas Hoskins.
Xavier Becerra and Rob Bonta, Attorneys General, Gerald A. Engler and Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorneys General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, A. Natasha Cortina, Steve Oetting and Christine L. Bergman, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Defendant Nicholas Hoskins was charged with and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, for which he was sentenced to 25 years to life. The charged conspiracy consisted of a two-year-long agreement among at least 20 gang members to kill members of rival gangs, without agreement as to any specific times, persons, or places where killing would take place. There was no evidence that Hoskins had committed or participated in any act of violence. The prosecution instead sought to tie Hoskins to the charged conspiracy primarily through evidence of his gang membership, access to weapons, and social media posts celebrating violence against rival gangs. Hoskins argues this evidence is insufficient to support a conviction for conspiracy to commit murder. Reviewing the entire record in light of established principles of conspiracy law, we agree. We reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal and remand for further proceedings.
In the early 2010's, a violent conflict broke out among criminal street gangs in the San Diego area. The conflict was sparked by the April 2011 killing of Dereck Peppers, who was a member of the 5/9 Brim criminal street gang, a set of the Bloods gang. In response to the killing, the Brim gang declared war on rival Crips gangs, leading to a spike in gang-related shootings that resulted in multiple injuries and deaths.
Hoskins was a member of the 5/9 Brim gang. The prosecution charged him, along with fellow gang members Dionte Simpson and Victor Ware, with multiple offenses stemming from the events of the early 2010's. Among other things, the prosecution alleged that all three were participants in a conspiracy spanning a roughly two-year period between January 1, 2012, and April 23, 2014, and involving at least 20 Brim members in total. The prosecution alleged the object of this conspiracy was the murder of rival gang members.
At trial, the prosecution presented evidence that both Simpson and Ware had either committed or aided and abetted shootings aimed at rival gang members. By contrast, the prosecution presented no evidence that Hoskins either committed or aided and abetted any act of violence. Nor did the prosecution present direct evidence that Hoskins agreed with others to commit violent acts. To establish Hoskins's participation in the charged conspiracy, the prosecution instead relied on four categories of circumstantial evidence: (1) evidence of Hoskins's gang membership; (2) evidence that Hoskins had access to a gun on at least one occasion during the conspiracy; (3) evidence of Hoskins's involvement in the events surrounding the August 27, 2013, shooting of Byreese Taylor; and (4) evidence of Hoskins's social media posts celebrating violence against rival gangs. Because this case concerns a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence against Hoskins, we will describe each category of evidence in some detail.
1. Evidence of gang membership. The prosecution presented extensive evidence establishing Hoskins's membership in both the 5/9 Brim and a subset of the gang known as the "Hit Squad." This evidence included a photograph showing a large "B" tattooed on Hoskins's chest, as well as photographs from Hoskins's phone and social media accounts in which he or other gang members made Brim or "Crip killing" gang signs and wore red clothing associated with the gang. In addition, Hoskins was a member of the Southside Brim Gang Facebook group. In his social media posts, he used unusual spelling and terminology common among Brim members, replacing the letter "C" with either a "K" or "Ck" (for "Crip killer" or "Crip killing") or "B" (for "Blood"), and occasionally signing off his posts with "5/9" (for the 5/9 Brim). One of his nicknames was "Bick Nick." The prosecution also introduced a photograph showing another one of Hoskins's nicknames written on the wall of a house belonging to an alleged coconspirator, alongside the nicknames of other Brim and Hit Squad members. Finally, a witness familiar with the defendants testified that Hoskins was part of the Hit Squad, also known at various times as the "Young Hit Squad" and the "Tiny Hit Squad." According to the witness, this subset of the Brims had more "shooters" and "K's," meaning "kills," than another subset, the "Hound Unit."
2. Access to firearms. The prosecution presented evidence that in February 2012, Hoskins was riding in a car that was pulled over for a faulty license plate light. Hoskins and the two other people in the car — both alleged 5/9 Brim members — were eventually searched, and Hoskins was found with a loaded firearm concealed in a sock tucked into his pants. Hoskins was arrested with a fellow Brim member. While the two were in the patrol car, Hoskins told the other Brim member that he would take responsibility for the gun and other contraband found in the car. There was no evidence linking the gun to any prior shootings.
The prosecution also presented evidence that in August 2012, Hoskins and an unidentified male were questioned by police officers based on a suspected curfew violation. (In fact, Hoskins was 19 years old at the time, so the curfew did not apply.)
Hoskins was questioned in front of the driveway of a house on Florence Street and initially gave the police a false name. At some point, the unidentified male who was with Hoskins walked to the backyard of that house. Officers later recovered a loaded revolver from the backyard. They had not seen Hoskins enter the backyard, nor was there any evidence that Hoskins knew about the gun.
3. Shooting of Byreese Taylor. On August 27, 2013, Taylor was walking in West Coast Crips (WCC) territory when he was shot by a passenger riding in the front seat of a car. The passenger, who was wearing a red cloth over his face, was not identified; the driver of the car was Timothy Hurst, a 5/9 Brim member. According to the prosecution's gang expert, the shooting appeared to be a mistake: Taylor was not a rival gang member, but a member of a gang allied with the Brims. Hurst was later arrested for and convicted of the shooting.
The evidence showed Hoskins was a longtime friend of Hurst's. Their grandmothers were neighbors, and the two men had grown up together and remained close friends. After Hurst was arrested, officers searched his car and found a mixture of DNA on the passenger side of the vehicle from at least four individuals, including Hoskins's as "a possible major contributor to that mixture." The prosecution expert could not, however, determine when the DNA had entered the van or whether it had arrived through direct contact or was transferred from another object.
To link Hoskins to the Taylor shooting, the prosecution introduced several photographs of Hoskins and his alleged coconspirators that were taken in the vicinity of the shooting. This included a photograph, uploaded to Hoskins's Facebook account on February 21, 2013 — about six months before the Taylor shooting — showing Hurst "tossing up 5/9 Brim and Crip killer" signs. The prosecution noted that the photograph was taken at a known WCC hangout about a mile from where Taylor was shot and argued that the photograph demonstrated the two were "laying the groundwork" for the Taylor shooting. The prosecution also introduced two photographs — posted on Instagram by another Brim member, Edward Paris, on the morning of August 27, 2013 — showing Hoskins and Paris standing in the same park, throwing up gang signs, and appearing to give the middle finger to WCC. The photographs were taken about seven hours before Taylor was shot and one mile away from the location of the shooting.
The prosecution also introduced Facebook messages that Hoskins sent after the shooting to Taylor and Hurst's girlfriend, in which Hoskins discussed the case against Hurst and tried to dissuade Taylor from testifying so that Hurst could "beat his [c]ase." Hoskins threatened to reveal that Taylor was "snitching" to the police, but ultimately did not carry out this threat.
About six months after the shooting, Hoskins posted on Facebook: "I switch up on bitcKh [n-words] fast I Love my Bros But I'm truer to the Kode sHit I'd turn on TB if he did some gay sHit and vise versa nuttin personal #onBrims."1 "TB" referred to Hurst, who was also known as "Tim Brim." According to the prosecution's gang expert, Hoskins meant that he "love[d] his gang," but was "truer to the code, the code being no snitching." The expert suggested Hoskins meant to call out Hurst for talking to the police about the circumstances of the shooting.
4. Social media posts. Hoskins was active on social media, and the prosecution introduced extensive evidence of his social media posts and photographs, as well as photographs of Hoskins uploaded to other 5/9 Brim members’ accounts, to demonstrate Hoskins's awareness and approval of the violent rivalry against Crips. The prosecution argued that Hoskins's social media activity provided a "window" into his mind: his posts were "his words," gave the jury "an idea of the mindsight of Mr. Hoskins," and reflected a desire to "tell[ ] the world on Facebook" that he was serious about his "Crip killing." The prosecution also argued that Hoskins used social media to disrespect rival gang members. He was Facebook "friends" with at least two rival gang members, one of whom was a victim in a shooting allegedly committed by a Brim member, indicating that at...
To continue reading
Request your trial