People v. Faatai CA2/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 31, 2023
DocketB318851
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Faatai CA2/3 (People v. Faatai CA2/3) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Faatai CA2/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

Filed 1/31/23 P. v. Faatai CA2/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE, B318851

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. NA110614) v.

TAYLOR L. FAATAI,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, James D. Otto, Judge. Remanded for resentencing. Mark Yanis, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, Scott A. Taryle and Stefanie Yee, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ________________________ At Taylor Faatai’s trial for the murder of Christopher Johnson, the trial court admitted drawings Faatai had done depicting shootings and a video featuring Faatai rapping about gangs. Faatai contends that the evidence should have been excluded and that its admission rendered his trial fundamentally unfair. We conclude that Faatai was not prejudiced by the admission of the evidence but remand for resentencing because the trial court imposed an unauthorized sentence. BACKGROUND I. Events leading to Johnson’s murder Faatai was a member of the Sons of Samoa gang, which goes by SOS. His moniker was Mace, and he used maceso3rd for his Instagram account. In Instagram posts, Faatai expressed his contempt for people who pretend to be gang members.1 In May 2018, he posted, “Act a fool where u say u act a fool at, cos all this Gram bangin[2] gon get u Waccd, thas a fact. I’m ina field fake niggas INTERNET.” In August 2018, he posted, “ ‘Aye dummy … Don’t rap about IT, if u ain’t doing IT #mace3rdsaidit FCN liers.’ ” The next month, he posted, “Jus cos they got tha street number at the end of they ig name don’t mean they from tha Set…. fcn actors 100 100 100 #WeDontKnoYouNigga #AintNevaStarvedWitUs.” Another post warned, “Stop usin my Set for tha fame u weird ass niggas. I’m chin checn niggas on

1 A gang expert testified that it is disrespectful to claim membership in a gang to which you do not belong. Doing so can result in being injured or killed. 2 Gram banging is a way to promote one’s gang using social media.

2 sight cuhs (wheelchair emoji) St… y’all betta stay ready, #NoWarninShots On my Grandpa in heaven 100 100 100.” Dejon Smith, who went by Musterd, was Faatai’s friend.3 Musterd had also been friends with Johnson, but they had a falling out. Johnson claimed to be a member of the Sex Money Murder gang, which is a Crip set in North Long Beach. On October 5, 2018, Musterd called out Johnson on Instagram, saying “you are not a gang member! You are not from Long beach. You are from Wilmington bitch. I am not from out here Nigga I’m from south central. Bittch. I will beat yo fuckin ass bitch.” Musterd then messaged Faatai that “bro is a claimer he don’t even bang. He don’t wanna catch this fade he wanna bring other people in to this but ok Ima look for bro rn.” Faatai responded, “fuc ass monkey nigga. Ik that was chu when I seen u.” “Monkey” and “Sex Monkeys” are derogatory terms for members of Sex Money Murder. The next day, October 6, 2018, Musterd messaged Faatai, “Nd said so Wat fucc[4] sos. Me he said fucc that bitch ass nigga mace.” Faatai responded, “Say no mas” and “its on.” About 10 minutes later, Faatai messaged savytherado32 that “Niggas doesn’t tha set” and “I need my shit ASAP.” According to the gang expert, in this context, “shit” usually refers to a weapon. Savytherado32 said he would “give you your shit” but would not go on a “burnt mission,”5 to which Faatai responded, “I fight my

3 Because another witness shares the same surname, we refer to Dejon Smith as Musterd to avoid confusion, intending no disrespect. 4 The gang expert testified that because a “c” followed by a “k” means Crip Killer, gang members will cross out the “k” and replace it with a “c.” 5 A “mission” usually refers to carrying out violence.

3 own battles.” They then texted about meeting, and Faatai told savytherado32 to meet Faatai, who was waiting in a tan Chevy Traverse. In additional messages to savytherado32, Faatai continued to refer to “monkeys.” On October 7, 2018, Johnson messaged Musterd that they could have talked out their problems, but Musterd had “made it serious” and now Johnson felt “threatened when you had Mace on me.” Musterd told Johnson that he’d “added mace name for no reason in a argument then sos. nowwww mace is it bro. Bro I’m sorry but mace Finna get you bro. Nd he don’t play play bro. you fucked up from me me for him bro it’s too late.” II. The murder of Johnson On October 25, 2018, at around 6:00 p.m., high school friends Autaija Smith, Patricia Rose, Manuel Torres, Faith Bustos, and Johnson, were walking home after grabbing snacks from a store. They were at an intersection when a guy got out of a car. Smith described the guy as almost six feet tall and “big,” “like broad in the shoulders,” and wearing a jacket, long pants, and blue underwear. When Johnson saw the guy, Johnson began to “speed walk[ ]” away from the car. The guy, who had a gun out, and Johnson exchanged words, and Smith heard the guy say that Johnson was talking about “fuck monkeys.” Johnson said he wasn’t trying to fight and didn’t know what the guy was talking about. Smith then saw the guy fire five shots. Rose testified at trial that Johnson had been her boyfriend. She described the car that passed them as “like a SUV” and light goldish in color. A guy wearing a Bape brand hoodie with a shark design on it exited from the front passenger side, ran to the group of friends, took out a gun, and said, “ ‘You know what this is. Mace, nigga. Fuck Monkeys.’ ” Johnson replied that he had

4 nothing on him and raised his hands. Rose asked what the problem was, and what was going on. Johnson ran, and the guy fired at him. After shooting at Johnson, the guy ran back to the car, and Rose took photos of the car. In video after the shooting, Rose can be heard saying that Musterd “called this boy to shoot him” and that the shooter was Samoan with a hood name of Mace. At trial, Rose identified Faatai as the shooter. Rose had heard Mace’s name before because Mace had made a song, and Johnson’s friend, Musterd, had a Samoan cousin named Mace. Rose and Johnson followed Musterd on Instagram. After Johnson was killed, Rose found photographs of Mace on Instagram and recognized him as the shooter. According to Rose, Johnson and Musterd had argued about a girl, and Rose suggested that Musterd told Mace about the argument. Torres also testified at trial. He described the shooter’s car as “copperish, like, a chevy,” and boxy in structure. When the shooter approached Johnson, Torres heard Johnson say he didn’t have anything on him, but the shooter said he didn’t care. The shooter wore a Dodgers sweatsuit, a Bape sweatshirt with a shark face, and red vapor air max shoes. He had curly hair. Although Torres said he saw the shooter’s face, at trial Torres did not identify Faatai as the shooter when first asked if he saw the shooter in the courtroom. But when asked a second time, Torres identified Faatai. Torres had previously identified Faatai as the shooter at the preliminary hearing. Also, two days after Johnson was murdered, Torres identified Faatai as the shooter from a photographic six-pack. Torres wrote on the six-pack that he saw about 75 percent of the shooter’s face because the shooter had a hood on, “but I seen his Instagram page and instantly knew it

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Bluebook (online)
People v. Faatai CA2/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-faatai-ca23-calctapp-2023.