P. v. Chaira CA4/2

California Court of Appeal·Decided April 2, 2013·No. E053083·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 4/2/13 P. v. Chaira CA4/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION TWO

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, E053083 v. (Super.Ct.No. RIF151153) MANUEL CHAIRA, JR., OPINION Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from the Superior Court of Riverside County. Sherrill A. Ellsworth, Judge. Affirmed in part; reversed in part.

Law Offices of E. Thomas Dunn, Jr., and E. Thomas Dunn, Jr., for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, and Barry Carlton and James H. Flaherty III, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant and appellant Manuel Chaira, Jr., appeals from his conviction of attempted deliberate and premeditated murder (Pen. Code,1 §§ 664, 187; counts 1 & 2); assault with a firearm (§ 245, subd. (a)(2)); counts 3 & 4) and gang participation (§ 186.22, subd. (a); count 5), along with true findings on enhancement allegations (§§ 12022.53, subd. (c), 186.22, subd. (b), 12022.53, subd. (d), and 12022.7, subd. (a)). He contends his convictions for attempted murder must be reversed, because the evidence was insufficient to establish an intent to kill, and his sentence of 20 years plus 69 years to life constituted cruel and unusual punishment. On our own motion, we requested the parties to provide additional briefing on the following issues: (1) did the trial court err in imposing 15-year terms for the gang use allegations as to counts 1 and 2 instead of a 15- year minimum parole eligibility for those counts; (2) was the evidence sufficient to establish that the attempted murders were deliberate and premeditated; and (3) did the trial court err in failing to instruct the jury sua sponte on provocation?

We conclude the trial court erred in imposing separate 15-year terms for each of counts 1 and 2 under section 186.22, subdivision (b)(5), because the statute instead provides for a minimum parole eligibility term. We find no further prejudicial errors, and we affirm.

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated.

II. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. Prosecution Evidence Edward Inzunza2 testified that he went to Paragon Park in Perris at around 5:00 p.m. on May 11, 2009, when he was 14 years old, to play handball with his cousin. His good friend, Jahaziel Reyna, was at the park waiting to play handball when Inzunza arrived. Reyna was associated with a street gang called Brown Pride Criminals (BPC).

At the park, Inzunza saw Robert Ulloa3 walk a few feet in front of him while moving toward the driver’s door of a white car in the parking lot. Reyna also went toward the car where three to five of his friends were standing. Defendant stepped out of the car, and he and Reyna argued. Reyna punched defendant in the jaw and started running towards the basketball courts.4 Defendant did not have a gun in his hands, but he then “shuffled his pockets,” although Inzunza could not tell if defendant’s hands were inside or outside the pockets. Inzunza looked away toward Reyna, and he heard two or

2Inzunza was reluctant to testify and initially refused to answer questions until he was admonished by the trial court. His testimony was contradictory and confusing on many points, and we have not attempted to set forth all the inconsistencies, although some examples are described herein.

3Ulloa was tried as a codefendant in the assault counts and the gang participation count. The jury found him not guilty.

4 At trial, Inzunza first testified Reyna and defendant had not argued before Reyna punched defendant. He then admitted he had told an investigator they had argued first, and his statement to the investigator was true.

three shots. He saw defendant with a gun in his hand firing it toward the basketball and tennis courts where Reyna had gone.5 Inzunza turned and saw defendant pointing a gun three or four inches from his chest. 6 Inzunza attempted to jump back, and he “hit the gun down.” Right after he hit it, the gun fired. Inzunza was shot in the right upper thigh and he fell to the ground. Defendant then fired three more times in the direction Reyna was running.7 Defendant then got in the white car and left “fast.”

Inzunza was transported to the emergency room, where he received 24 stitches in his leg; he remained in the hospital for three days. Despite receiving three months of physical therapy, he was still unable to play the sports he had played before the shooting.

Deputy Dario Hernandez of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department arrived at the emergency room to take Inzunza’s statement about 10 minutes after Inzunza’s arrival there. Inzunza was scared and nervous, but coherent. Inzunza said he had been playing handball in the park, and at some point Reyna and the suspect began to argue about something. Reyna punched the suspect in the face, and the suspect pulled out a handgun. Everyone in the park started running, and the suspect looked around as though he was

5 Inzunza also testified he had not seen defendant shooting in Reyna’s direction.

6 He also testified he saw defendant shooting toward the basketball and tennis courts, and he saw a gun in defendant’s hand. At another point, he testified he never saw defendant pull out a gun or fire any shots and that he had heard the first three shots, but did not see the shooter until the shooter was pointing the gun at him.

7 Inzunza later testified he had heard three more shots but did not see who the shooter was.

looking for someone to shoot. The suspect then turned around, pointed the gun at Inzunza, and shot him. Reyna came up and asked Inzunza if he was okay and then said, “‘Ambulance is on the way,’” and “‘I have to go.’” Inzunza said there was an “ongoing issue” between Reyna and the suspect, who were associated with rival gangs or crews. Inzunza did not tell Deputy Hernandez the gun was pointed at his chest or that he had swiped at the gun before its discharge. He did not say the suspect had shot at Reyna at all.

Reyna, who had been deported to Mexico, was found to be unavailable, and his preliminary hearing testimony was read to the jury. At the preliminary hearing, he claimed he did not know where Paragon Park was, and he did not know Inzunza. No one had shot at him; he had been in the restroom when he heard shooting. He had been at the park when some kid had been shot, but he was just waiting to play basketball. He had not seen anyone get out of a car, and he was not involved in the incident. No one pointed a gun at him; he never had to duck; he never saw who was shooting; he never saw who was involved in the fight; he did not see who was shot. He was not familiar with a group called Brown Pride, although he had a tattoo of “Brown Pride” on his arm. He did not belong to a gang and was not familiar with any gangs in Perris. He never had an issue with anyone in a gang. He never told an officer a man had removed a silver gun from his belt, and he denied having said the man had started shooting at him. He never said he thought four shots were fired or that he ran from the park. He had said the kid who was shot was like family to him because they were related, but he only knew his first name.

He had not received any threats warning him not to testify. He did not know defendant or Ulloa, and he had never seen them before.

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