People v. Gonzalez CA2/5

California Court of Appeal·Decided October 20, 2025·No. B337608·Unpublished

Opinion

Filed 10/20/25 P. v. Gonzalez CA2/5 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FIVE

THE PEOPLE, B337608

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. v. TA160992)

AAREN GONZALEZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Michael D. Abzug, Judge. Reversed. Michael Reed, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Jonathan M. Krauss and Stefanie Yee, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. Mere presence at the scene of a crime is insufficient to establish participation in a conspiracy to commit that crime or aiding and abetting its commission. (People v. Ware (2022) 14 Cal.5th 151, 165 [“Because the law will not recognize a rule of guilt by association, we insist on proof of a defendant’s knowledge of, and specific intent to further, [a conspiracy’s] unlawful ends”]; People v. Francis (1969) 71 Cal.2d 66, 72; In re Michael T. (1978) 84 Cal.App.3d 907, 911 [“Mere presence at the scene of a crime which does not itself assist its commission or mere knowledge that a crime is being committed and the failure to prevent it does not amount to aiding and abetting”].) We consider whether the People presented substantial evidence of more than mere presence with respect to defendant and appellant Aaren Gonzalez (defendant), who was convicted at trial of conspiracy to commit murder, four counts of attempted murder, and a firearm possession offense.

I. BACKGROUND A. The Offense Conduct, as Established by the Evidence at Trial Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers Francisco Lozano and Lester Castillo were on patrol in Los Angeles County on the evening of September 22, 2023. Shortly before 8:00 p.m., they were traveling westbound on 108th Street, approaching Stanford Avenue. This stretch of 108th Street is primarily residential, with one lane of traffic in each direction, a left turn lane down the middle of the street, and curb parking on either side. The officers saw a Lexus, which was traveling in the opposite direction on 108th Street, stop in the roadway next to a

2 parked Mercedes. While the officers were driving toward the Lexus from the opposite direction, the Lexus’s passenger rapidly fired multiple gunshots (estimated to be between seven and nine) at the Mercedes. There were no cars behind the Lexus, and the appellate record (including video footage from the officers’ dash camera) does not reveal for how many seconds the Lexus was stopped. After the gunshots, the Lexus sped off eastbound on 108th Street and the officers gave chase. Less than one minute later, the Lexus collided with a vehicle at 107th and Wadsworth—as circumstances would have it, the same Mercedes targeted in the shooting. The Lexus continued for another half block after the collision and, at that point, defendant exited the driver’s side and Davion McFarlan (McFarlan) exited the passenger side. Both fled on foot, splitting up as they ran,1 and McFarlan threw or dropped a handgun as he fled. While the police officers on scene called for back-up, they observed at least four people get out of the Mercedes that had been fired on; one of those people told an officer he had been shot in the arm and stomach. The Mercedes’s other occupants left the scene without identifying themselves, and no weapons were found in the Mercedes or on the shooting victim. The police recovered the gun discarded by McFarlan and found it had a “double feed malfunction.” This type of malfunction “occurs when a pistol or firearm is fired rapidly and

1 The police apprehended defendant on 106th Street “just east of Wadsworth” and McFarlan on 107th Street east of Wadsworth.

3 two rounds . . . attempt to enter the chamber at the same time,” which causes the weapon to jam.

B. McFarlan’s Jail Call Defendant and McFarlan were charged with conspiracy to commit attempted murder, four counts of attempted murder (corresponding to four occupants of the Mercedes), and firearm offenses. Both men were tried together. None of the Mercedes occupants who were shot at testified during trial. The prosecution did introduce in evidence a recording of a phone call McFarlan made from jail a few days after he was arrested.2 The call, which lasted about five minutes, was between McFarlan, a woman McFarlan referred to as “mama,” and a man who addressed McFarlan as “nephew.” During the call, McFarlan’s mother asked him “what happened when [he] left.” She said she “kn[e]w pretty much everything” and the “Citizen App” said “it’s connected to some shit. The boy getting shot at Marco?” McFarlan answered, “I don’t know.” McFarlan’s mother remarked, “They got you for attempted murder,” and McFarlan responded, “Yeah.” McFarlan’s uncle asked, “Why,” and his mother cut in to say, “Yeah, because that’s what she Amaya saying. . . . Did they catch him? Did they find anything on you?” McFarlan responded, “not on me,” and his mother said, “But they found something somewhere.” McFarlan remarked, “I think so.” McFarlan’s uncle asked, “Did you use it? Yes or no? Did you use

2 There was no objection that the jury could not consider the call made by McFarlan against defendant (who was not a party to the conversation).

4 it? Yes or no?” McFarlan said “Huh?” and his uncle repeated, “Did y’all use it? Yes or no?” McFarlan grunted in response. Moments later on the call, the uncle asked, “Nephew? Yeah, nephew. Was it a green—was it a go or no? Did it go or no?” McFarlan responded, “I don’t talk over this phone. Huh? Whatever they got me in here for. That’s what it is.” Los Angeles Police Department detective Mario Leonidas, who testified that he investigated hundreds of gang-related crimes, was asked to offer an opinion on the meaning of the “go or no” exchange between McFarlan and his uncle. The detective testified that, “based on talking to arrestees[ and] victims, when they say, ‘It’s a go or no,’ it’s indicating, like, a mission, for example, like, a drive-by shooting or a shooting, if it’s a go, if they actually did what they were supposed to do. [¶] So in this case that means to me, based on . . . my experience, the mission they were on that day to do that shooting was—were they able to accomplish or not?” That limited opinion was the only expert testimony presented at trial. There was no testimony that defendant or McFarlan (or any of the occupants of the fired-upon Mercedes) were members of a criminal street gang.

C. Verdict and Sentencing The prosecution argued McFarlan was the one who shot at the Mercedes and defendant was guilty of the four charged attempted murders as an aider and abettor (and a conspirator who planned with McFarlan in advance to commit murder). The jury found defendant guilty as charged, convicting him of

5 conspiracy (Pen. Code, 3 § 182, subd. (a)(1)), four counts of willful, deliberate, and premeditated attempted murder ( §§ 664, 187, subd. (a)), and possession of a firearm with a prior violent conviction (§ 29900, subd. (a)(1)). The trial court sentenced defendant to concurrent terms of life and 25 years to life on the attempted murder and conspiracy counts, respectively. The court imposed a concurrent two-year prison term for the firearm offense.

II. DISCUSSION At trial, all the evidence was that McFarlan was the shooter. Nobody who was in the Mercedes testified.

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