People v. Gastelum CA4/1

California Court of Appeal·Decided February 5, 2014·No. D062985·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 2/5/14 P. v. Gastelum CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D062985 Plaintiff and Respondent, v. (Super. Ct. No. JCF18906)

JESUS RAMON GASTELUM, Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Imperial County, Christopher J. Plourd, Judge. Affirmed.

Eric R. Larson, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Peter Quon, Jr., and Susan Miller, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Jesus Ramon Gastelum appeals a judgment after the trial court denied his motion for new trial based on alleged ineffective assistance of counsel, and reinstated the

judgment based on a jury's verdict convicting him of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)) and conspiracy to commit murder (§ 182). On appeal, he contends he was denied effective representation of counsel in two regards: (1) counsel did not investigate and introduce evidence that another person (Mr. Ruiz) admitted to being an accomplice to the shooting, and (2) counsel did not investigate and introduce an expert to attack the credibility of eyewitness identification evidence.

I

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND A. Evidence Against Gastelum1 During the evening of September 15, 2001, Daniel Villa, a gang member and drug abuser, went to Richard Armenta's house in Brawley to buy drugs from Armenta. Armenta agreed to sell Villa drugs, but he asked Villa, and Villa agreed, to first accompany him to a store to buy beer. On the way to the store, Armenta drove by a house party on B Street in the Brole (i.e., Broleno) gang area. There were many gang members on the patio outside the house. They recognized Armenta's car and turned around. Armenta asked Villa whether he "would be willing to shoot" them if he gave Villa his gun. Villa did not answer Armenta's question.

On their return to Armenta's house, Gastelum (whose moniker is "Pookie") and some other men were there. Armenta asked the group if someone would volunteer to do

1 In this appeal, both parties rely on this court's factual recitation from the prior appeal of Gastelum's conviction in People v. Gastelum (D053935, Nov. 19, 2009), (Gastelum I). Accordingly, our factual statement is taken from Gastelum I.

a shooting of gang members at the house party. Gastelum answered that he would do the job for his gang. Armenta went to another room and brought back a big speaker from which he removed a black revolver. Armenta gave it to Gastelum, who then removed its bullets. Armenta and Gastelum cleaned the gun and bullets. After Armenta reloaded the gun, Gastelum put the gun in the waistband of his pants. Gastelum and Armenta left the house and drove away in Armenta's mother's Camry (a different car than that Armenta drove to the store earlier).

At about 9:30 p.m. or 10:00 p.m., Francisco Hernandez, then 16 years old, arrived at the house party. There were about 10 to 13 people there. Later, Hernandez was standing in the front yard inside the fence when he saw someone coming down the street who he initially believed was a friend. The person approached the gate and said, "Come here." When Hernandez was about five to six feet from the gate, the person (identified at trial as Gastelum) pulled out a gun and began firing it at him. As Hernandez turned and ran away, he was shot in the back. Once inside the house, he learned he was bleeding. Hernandez also saw that Jesse Garcia, his friend, had been shot and was lying on the floor with blood pouring out of his head. A few months later, Garcia, also 16 years old, died from his gunshot wounds.

Villa, who had remained at Armenta's house, heard on a police scanner that there had been a shooting on B Street. Within two to three minutes, Armenta and Gastelum arrived back at Armenta's house. Gastelum appeared happy and described how he got out of the car, knocked on the door of the house, and fired his gun at the head of the person who opened the door while stating the name of his (Gastelum's) gang, Chicali Brasas.

Gastelum stated he also fired his gun at and thought he hit another person near the door. Armenta stated the people were gang members and were drinking and that what Gastelum had done "was all fine." Gastelum told everyone in the room they were the only ones who would know what had happened and, if someone said something, the "same thing would happen to them." Gastelum and Armenta removed the remaining bullets from the gun and then Armenta took the gun to another room.

At about 8:00 p.m. or 9:00 p.m. on September 15, 2001, Armenta went to the home of Israel Salazar, then an active Chicali Brasas gang member, and asked him whether he would be willing to go with him to "get" (i.e., "blast" or shoot) some Broleno gang members while they were "slipping" (i.e., unaware) at a party on B Street. Armenta stated he was going over to Pete Castellanos's house to have a "kickback."2 Salazar did not go with Armenta because he was arguing with his "old lady" at the time.

A few hours later, Armenta returned to Salazar's home and asked him to hide a gun and not to tell anyone. When Salazar asked him what happened, Armenta stated: "Some shit went down on B Street." Armenta appeared scared. Salazar agreed to hold the gun for Armenta, but he did not actually see the gun that night. Salazar apparently told Armenta to hide the gun in a wood pile wherever he wanted to. When Salazar learned the following day what happened on B Street, he asked a friend to tell Armenta to pick up his gun. During telephone conversations, Armenta told Salazar that during the B

2 Castellanos was a Chicali Brasas gang member who had been shot and paralyzed by a Broleno gang member, and Armenta stated that somebody "had to pay back for it" (i.e., be shot) in retaliation for Castellanos's shooting. (Gastelum I, supra, D053935, at p. 4.)

Street incident someone got shot in the head. When Salazar asked Armenta if he was the shooter, Armenta replied, "No. It was Pookie," i.e., Gastelum. Armenta stated that the reason for the shooting was "[s]omebody paid back for what happened to Peter Boy," i.e., Castellanos. A few days after Salazar hid the gun, Armenta and two other gang members came to Salazar's home and retrieved the gun, which was wrapped in a bandana, and ammunition in a plastic bag. Salazar saw the gun was a faded black revolver with a six- inch barrel, and the bullets bore the markings ".38 S&W."

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

People v. Gastelum CA4/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2014).

People v. Gastelum CA4/1 (People v. Gastelum CA4/1) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Strickland v. Washington
466 U.S. 668 (Supreme Court, 1984)
People v. Marsden
465 P.2d 44 (California Supreme Court, 1970)
In Re Sixto
774 P.2d 164 (California Supreme Court, 1989)
People v. Williams
751 P.2d 395 (California Supreme Court, 1988)
People v. James
561 P.2d 1135 (California Supreme Court, 1977)
People v. Sapp
73 P.3d 433 (California Supreme Court, 2003)
People v. Hernandez
94 P.3d 1080 (California Supreme Court, 2004)
In Re Fields
800 P.2d 862 (California Supreme Court, 1990)
People v. Holt
937 P.2d 213 (California Supreme Court, 1997)
People v. Frye
959 P.2d 183 (California Supreme Court, 1998)
People v. Doolin
198 P.3d 11 (California Supreme Court, 2009)