Sisneros v. Neushmid

• Decision Date: 30 April 2018
• Docket Number: No. 2:17-cv-01499-JKS,2:17-cv-01499-JKS
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of California
• Parties: JOSEPH VINCENT SISNEROS, Petitioner, v. ROBERT NEUSHMID, Acting Warden, California State Prison, Solano, Respondent.

JOSEPH VINCENT SISNEROS, Petitioner, v. ROBERT NEUSHMID, Acting Warden,California State Prison, Solano,¹ Respondent.

No. 2:17-cv-01499-JKS

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

April 30, 2018

MEMORANDUM DECISION

Joseph Vincent Sisneros, a state prisoner proceeding pro se, filed a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus with this Court pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2254. Sisneros is in the custody of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and incarcerated at California State Prison, Solano. Respondent has answered, and Sisneros has replied.

I. BACKGROUND/PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

On December 29, 2010, Sisneros, along with co-defendants Jose Antonio Duran and Salvador Benjamin Vasquez, Jr., was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery (Count 1); second-degree robbery (Count 2); two counts of battery causing serious injury (Counts 3 and 4); dissuading a witness (Count 5); two counts of threats to commit a crime resulting in death or great bodily injury (Counts 6 and 10); two counts of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury (Counts 7 and 9); and participating in criminal street gang activity (Count 11).² The information further alleged that the crimes charged in Counts 1 through 10 werecommitted for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal street gang with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members. As to Counts 1, 2, 4, and 9, it was additionally alleged that all three defendants inflicted great bodily injuries when they committed the charged offenses.³ All three defendants pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations. They proceeded to a joint jury trial on February 7, 2012. On direct appeal of Sisneros' conviction, the California Court of Appeal laid out the following facts underlying the charges against Sisneros and the evidence presented at trial:

The Assault and Robbery of Noah Fordyce

After getting off work around 10:00 p.m. on April 19, 2010, Noah Fordyce purchased some nachos and drove to the Lowe's parking lot in West Sacramento. He parked and began eating while he watched a show on his iPod. The driver's side window of his car was down, and Fordyce's seatbelt was still buckled.

A red car occupied by several men pulled into the parking lot and parked behind Fordyce's car. Three men got out of the red car and came to Fordyce's driver's side window. They told him they had been drinking, and one of the men grabbed a nacho chip from Fordyce's food. The three men then returned to their car.

A few minutes later, the three men returned to Fordyce's window. One man reached in and grabbed Fordyce's iPod. The men began taking turns violently punching Fordyce in the head. While doing so, the men yelled out "Los Nortenos" or "Los Nortes" multiple times. One of the men said he had a knife. They demanded Fordyce's wallet and keys. Fordyce did not fight back and tried to cover his head from the blows, which continued even after he gave them his wallet and keys. During the assault, Fordyce's nachos were smeared on the inside and outside of his vehicle. Among other injuries, Fordyce suffered two facial bone fractures in the unprovoked attack.

The Assault of Carlos Lozano

While the three men were taking turns hitting Fordyce, four Lowe's employees, Rick Deanda, Chantelle Parr, Camden Cushing, and Carlos Lozano, walked out of the Lowe's store, which was closing. They immediately noticed a commotion and yelling coming from the direction of Fordyce's vehicle. They saw three men attacking Fordycethrough his car window. One man was wearing a black sweatshirt or shirt, another was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt, and the third man was wearing a white shirt.

Deanda, the store manager, instructed the employees to stay away and to call the police. Deanda heard the word "Norte" yelled out during the attack on Fordyce.

Cushing called 911 to report the attack. While Cushing was on the phone with the 911 operator, one of the men accosting Fordyce noticed him on the phone and yelled out that Cushing was "calling the cops." The three men then got into their car and sped quickly towards Cushing. The man wearing the white hooded sweatshirt was driving. While the three men were distracted by the Lowe's employees, Fordyce got out of his car and ran to hide by the Lowe's store.

Cushing stepped behind a nearby light pole to put something between him and the car. After the car abruptly stopped, the three men jumped out and began yelling at Cushing, asking him, "You calling the cops on us, fucking Nigga, fucking Norte?" All three men were yelling at Cushing. The man wearing the black sweatshirt told Cushing, "I'll fucking shoot you. I got a fucking gun, Nigga. I'll fucking shoot you. You calling the cops on me?" Cushing saw the man holding a dark object near his waistband, which Cushing thought was a gun. While the man was threatening him, the other two men began running towards Cushing. Cushing turned and ran towards the parking lot exit.

Lozano was standing a short distance behind Cushing at the time. Frightened, Lozano stood still and put up his hands to signal that he did not want any problems. The two men chasing Cushing, however, began attacking Lozano instead. They kicked and punched him in the chest and face. The man wearing the black sweatshirt stood back while the other two men attacked Lozano. Lozano heard someone yell, "Norteno." The men eventually stopped assaulting Lozano, got into their car, and drove away. As a result of the attack, Lozano suffered injuries to his nose, eyes, and face.

Parr walked quickly towards her car. She heard one of the men screaming that he was "going [to] kill this nigga," and another yelling "Norte." She saw the three men get into their car and drive towards Cushing and Lozano. She saw at least two of the three men attack Lozano. She drove out of the parking lot and then pulled over to call the police. While leaving, she saw two other men standing on the road near the parking lot exit. One was wearing a dark shirt and long jeans shorts, and the other was wearing a white shirt with a cartoon figure on it.

As Parr was on the phone with the police, she saw the red car drive by on the street. The man in the white hooded sweatshirt was driving, and the man with the white cartoon shirt, whom Parr had seen on the side of the road, was also in the car.

Minutes later, an officer called to the location of the assaults passed a red car matching the description of the suspects' vehicle. The officer stopped the car and saw the passenger in the backseat on the right moving around and throwing things out of the window. Luis Vasquez, defendant Vasquez's brother, was sitting in the right rear passenger seat. Duran was driving the car, and Vasquez was sitting in the front passenger seat. Ryan Boyd, also known as Ryan White or Derek White, was sitting in the center of the backseat, and Sisneros was sitting in the left rear passenger seat.

At the time, Duran was wearing a white hooded sweatshirt and was carrying a knife. Sisneros was wearing a white shirt that had a nacho cheese stain on the front.

Vasquez was wearing a black shirt, which may have had the sleeves pushed up. Luis Vasquez was wearing a black sweater, and Ryan Boyd was wearing a white shirt with a cartoon logo on it. None of the men had changed their clothes since being arrested.

Upon searching the car, authorities found Fordyce's iPod and wallet, which were located on the floorboard under the driver's seat. A pair of jeans shorts with a red belt were in the backseat.

Witness Identifications and Police Interrogations

The suspects were taken to a nearby location for a "field showup." Fordyce was unable to identify any of the men, but did identify the red car as the one in which his attackers were riding. Cushing identified Duran, Vasquez, and Sisneros as the men who attacked Fordyce and Lozano. Parr identified Duran and Vasquez as two of the primary assailants. She also identified Duran as the driver of the red car. Lozano identified Duran, Vasquez, and Sisneros as the men who assaulted him.

Thereafter, the police interviewed each defendant separately on videotape following standard Miranda warnings. (Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (Miranda).) The interviews of Sisneros and Duran were played for the jury; the court prohibited the People from playing Vasquez's taped interview because he invoked his Miranda rights when the interview began.

Sisneros told police he was passed out drunk in the backseat of Duran's car during the attack and that he never hit anyone. He could not explain how the nacho cheese stain got on his shirt. When asked why his left hand was bruised and swollen, Sisneros, who was left handed, claimed his knuckles always looked that way.

In response to the interrogating officer's statement, "So, you're a norteno," Sisneros stated, "If I was to get locked up, I'd ride with northerners, yeah." Sisneros also told the officer that his "family was always northerner," and that he "just hood bang[s]." After the officer asked him whether he was a Norteno from Del Paso Heights, Sisneros responded that if he were "representing" himself, he "would go as a northerner, yeah. Northerner from the heights." Sisneros also admitted he knew Frank White, a well-documented Norteno gang member.

Duran admitted the red car was his and that he was driving the car that night. When asked how long he had been a Norteno, Duran responded, "Who said I was?" The officer then told Duran that apparently he had admitted being a Norteno gang member to someone in Sacramento. Duran also said he was "not proud of it" in response to the officer's question of whether he was proud of being a Norteno. He later denied being a gang member, however, and said he was not with any particular Norteno crew. When asked why his hands and knuckles were bruised, Duran claimed that his hands always looked that way. Towards the end of the

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