People v. Toledo CA2/1

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 29, 2016
DocketB251833
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Toledo CA2/1 (People v. Toledo CA2/1) 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. Toledo CA2/1, (Cal. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

Filed 7/29/16 P. v. Toledo CA2/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 ONE

THE PEOPLE, B251833

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. TA097537) v.

JOE TOLEDO et al.,

Defendants and Appellants.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Allen J. Webster, Judge. Affirmed as modified. Allen G. Weinberg, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Joe Toledo. Jeralyn Keller, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant Jose G. Enciso. Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, Michael R. Johnsen, Joseph P. Lee and Kathy S. Pomerantz, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ___________________________________ A jury convicted Joe “Leon” Toledo and Jose G. “Evil” Enciso of the first degree murder of Darryl White and found gun and gang allegations true. Appellants were sentenced to state prison for 50 years to life, but we reversed their convictions on the ground that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting extensive, detailed, inflammatory, and overwhelmingly irrelevant gang evidence. (People v. Toledo (Oct. 5, 2011, B219800) [nonpub. opn.].) Appellants were retried and reconvicted, and again appeal, arguing the trial court made voir dire and evidentiary errors, reimposed restitution fines that were excessive or had been paid after the first trial, and failed to give sufficient custody credit to Toledo. We conclude the fines must be reduced and Toledo given additional custody credit, but otherwise affirm. BACKGROUND Several street gangs claim overlapping territory in Compton, California, including the Compton Varrio 70 (CV70) and Leuders Park Piru (Leuders Park) gangs. Appellants were members of CV70. White, was a member of Natural Born Players (NBP), a group associated with Leuders Park. The CV70 and Leuders Park gangs maintain a longstanding feud. On the morning of November 27, 2002, the day after Thanksgiving, White and his cousin, Brandon Buckhalter, spray painted “NBP” on some walls and a street sign at the intersection of San Vicente and Bradfield avenues in Compton. White also painted over a graffito referring to CV70. Toledo saw or learned of White and Buckhalter defacing the CV70 graffiti and hurriedly obtained a revolver from the home of David Guerrero, a fellow CV70 member. Appellants then approached White and Buckhalter in a blue Chevy Tahoe driven by Enciso. When Enciso flourished a chrome handgun, White and Buckhalter fled on foot onto Palmer Street. Appellants pursued in the Tahoe but temporarily lost sight of the NBP members. White and Buckhalter ran to a friend’s house and went inside, for a time thinking they had eluded appellants. But when White left the house to reconnoiter he was seen by

2 Toledo and Mario Contreras, also a CV70 member. White ran into the backyard of a neighboring house, closely pursued on foot by Toledo and Contreras. One of the pursuers shouted, “Yeah, mother fucker. You think you got away, but we got you now.” Toledo and Contreras took different routes to the backyard at 1813 East Palmer Street, cornered White, and shot him five times with two guns, a revolver and a semiautomatic, twice through the heart. Then they ran back to the Tahoe and were driven away. White died at the scene. The police investigation spanned several years. Months after the shooting, Danny Guerrero, David Guerrero’s brother, was stopped in his vehicle. Under a seat, police discovered a semiautomatic handgun that was later determined to have ejected the shell casings recovered at the scene of the White shooting. Enciso was arrested three years after the murder, on November 9, 2005. Toledo was arrested two months after that. In 2006, Melina Rodriguez, David Guerrero’s girlfriend, was arrested for drug possession. She told police that on an unspecified day when an unidentified “Black guy got killed,” she had been living with Guerrero near the intersection of San Vicente and Bradfield, where White and Buckhalter were seen painting graffiti. She was in the house with Guerrero while Enciso, Toledo and Contreras were outside. Toledo rushed in and told Guerrero to give him a gun. Guerrero gave Toledo a chrome revolver, then ran outside with him. She could not otherwise identify the gun. Rodriguez heard shots five minutes later. She was later told by a neighbor that a Black man had been killed. In a later interview, Rodriguez told police that Enciso drove a blue Tahoe owned by Danny Guerrero, the same kind of car that had pursued White and Buckhalter. Rodriguez recanted her statements at the preliminary hearing and at trial, but recorded clips of the interview were played for the jury. Also in 2006, police detained Danny Guerrero as he emerged from the house of Sabrina Lewis, his girlfriend, with duffle bags. A search of the bags and of Lewis’s residence recovered armor-penetrating ammunition, a preliminary hearing transcript of

3 Buckhalter’s testimony in an unidentified case, and a CD recording of a police interview with Toledo. Buckhalter identified Toledo and Contreras as the shooters and Enciso and David Guerrero as the Tahoe’s driver and passenger, respectively. Sheriff’s Detectives Peter Hecht and Brian Steinwand, the prosecution’s gang experts, testified that a task force was created in 2005 to solve crimes associated with CV70. Hecht testified CV70’s primary activities are robbery, illegal substance dealing, car theft and murder. He testified there was a longstanding feud between CV70 and Leuders Park, in furtherance of which numerous violent crimes were committed by CV70 members before and after the White murder. For example, in November 2001, Ricki Jimenez, the sister of a CV70 gang member, was murdered. It was suspected in the community that the murder was committed by members of the Ferguson family (of which White and Buckhalter were members), several of whom belonged to Leuders Park. Hecht testified that gangs demand respect and announce their geographical authority with graffiti. In the gang culture, crossing out a rival gang’s graffiti is a sign of disrespect and requires retaliation. A gang member loses respect by failing to retaliate when a gang’s authority is challenged, and can be killed for cooperating with law enforcement. Hecht opined that the White murder benefitted CV70 by increasing its reputation for violence and intimidating the community, thereby discouraging community members from assisting law enforcement in its investigations of CV70 activities. Steinwand interpreted an inculpatory recorded jailhouse conversation involving Enciso, Contreras, and David and Danny Guerrero. In the conversation, the CV70 members comment that Buckhalter was cooperating with police about a case on Palmer Street. Enciso’s defense was alibi, his in-laws testifying he was with them in the San Diego area for a family Thanksgiving at the time of the murder. Toledo’s defense was also alibi, his brother testifying Toledo was in school at the time of the murder. A jury found appellants guilty of the White murder and found true the gun and gang allegations. The trial court sentenced them to 50 years to life in prison, comprising

4 25 years to life for the murder plus a consecutive 25 years for the gun enhancement, and imposed but stayed sentences for the gang enhancement.

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

Related

Chapman v. California
386 U.S. 18 (Supreme Court, 1967)
People v. Tully
282 P.3d 173 (California Supreme Court, 2012)
People v. Lucas
907 P.2d 373 (California Supreme Court, 1995)
People v. Cooper
809 P.2d 865 (California Supreme Court, 1991)
People v. . Scott
939 P.2d 354 (California Supreme Court, 1997)
People v. Freeman
882 P.2d 249 (California Supreme Court, 1994)
People v. Sully
812 P.2d 163 (California Supreme Court, 1991)
People v. Watson
299 P.2d 243 (California Supreme Court, 1956)
People v. Smith
211 Cal. App. 3d 523 (California Court of Appeal, 1989)
People v. Allen
77 Cal. App. 3d 924 (California Court of Appeal, 1978)
People v. Johnson
159 Cal. App. 3d 163 (California Court of Appeal, 1984)
People v. Turrin
176 Cal. App. 4th 1200 (California Court of Appeal, 2009)
Alvarez v. State of California
95 Cal. Rptr. 2d 719 (California Court of Appeal, 1999)
People v. Boyer
133 P.3d 581 (California Supreme Court, 2006)
People v. Hanson
1 P.3d 650 (California Supreme Court, 2000)
People v. Box
5 P.3d 130 (California Supreme Court, 2000)
People v. Ledesma
140 P.3d 657 (California Supreme Court, 2006)
People v. Kopatz
347 P.3d 952 (California Supreme Court, 2015)
People v. Cunningham
352 P.3d 318 (California Supreme Court, 2015)
People v. Sanchez
374 P.3d 320 (California Supreme Court, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
People v. Toledo CA2/1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-toledo-ca21-calctapp-2016.