People v. Ware CA2/3

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 4, 2026
DocketB338381
StatusUnpublished

This text of People v. Ware CA2/3 (People v. Ware 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. Ware CA2/3, (Cal. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

Filed 5/4/26 P. v. Ware CA2/3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B338381

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA496865) v.

TERRANCE WARE,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Eleanor J. Hunter, Judge. Reversed and remanded. Sydney Banach, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Charles Ragland, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, Noah P. Hill and Thomas C. Hsieh, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. _________________________ A jury convicted Terrance Ware of two counts of second degree murder. Ware raises numerous contentions on appeal, including the contention that the trial court failed to instruct the jury about how a defendant who is an initial aggressor can regain the right to self-defense. We agree with that contention and reverse the judgment and remand on that ground. BACKGROUND I. The murders of Rivera and Garcia On July 2, 2021, at about 5:00 p.m., Luis Perez was with the victims Isaac Rivera and Christian Garcia and a few other men near Maple and Pico in downtown Los Angeles. The men were in an alleyway that led to a parking lot when Tameka Francis parked in the lot. Francis, however, left after refusing to pay for parking. After Francis left, Rivera, Garcia, and a third man broke into her car and ransacked it. While they were in the car, Francis returned and told the men to get the “ ‘fuck’ ” out of her car. Garcia told her, “ ‘Shut up, bitch. I’m not done yet.’ ” Francis replied, “ ‘You’re dead’ ” and said she was going to come back with her brother. Garcia got out of Francis’s car with a speaker he was taking from it. Francis drove away in her car. Perez left to smoke with a friend nearby. While smoking, Perez saw Francis walking with Ware and another man. Perez went to warn Rivera and Garcia, but he heard gunshots and saw Ware running away. As Ware ran away, he pointed a gun at Perez. Rivera pointed at Ware and said, “ ‘Bro, he shot me.’ ” Brian Barrientos was near 12th and Maple when he heard gunshots and saw Ware holding a gun and running from where

2 the shots were fired. Perez was running after Ware and yelling, “ ‘It’s him.’ ” Garcia died at the scene, having been shot in his shoulder, twice in the chest area, and in his forearm. Rivera died at the hospital, having been shot once in the abdomen and once in the back. Stippling was on Garcia’s body but not on Rivera’s. The presence of stippling indicated the gun was less than four feet from Garcia’s body. Ware was arrested on July 7, 2021. He did not admit involvement in the shooting. Instead, he said they were checking on Francis’s car when they heard gunshots, so they left. II. The crime scene and backpack Law enforcement found six 9-millimeter casings at the crime scene but no weapons. Detective Alejandro Abundis, the investigating officer, testified that they found a backpack and that law enforcement does not touch or move evidence before taking photographs of it. When the detective saw the backpack, all of its zippers were closed. He could not recall if the backpack was “completely zipped,” but it “was not open,” meaning the contents could not be seen. The detective opened the backpack at the station and found a BB gun at the bottom. However, photographs of the backpack at the crime scene appear to show the backpack open. After reviewing the photographs, Detective Abundis agreed that the backpack “could” have been open, but his recollection was that it was closed. On redirect examination, Detective Abundis said the BB gun was in the backpack’s top portion, and a different part of the backpack, the front pocket, might have been open.

3 III. Evidence of threats to a witness At trial, Perez said that he had previously testified in November 2022. While waiting in the court hallway, Ware’s family members walked past him and one said, “ ‘I should slap the shit out of him right now.’ ” Perez felt threatened, so sheriff’s deputies escorted him out a back way to his car. As Perez was driving out of the parking structure, a car blocked him, a woman came up to him, and she said, “ ‘Don’t be snitching on me.’ ” Perez took it as a threat. As of the time of trial, he remained scared, stating, “They’re stone cold killers over a $10 parking.” He felt that testifying put his life in danger. IV. Defense case Francis, Ware, and a medical expert testified in the defense case. A. Francis’s testimony Francis said she was in the area that day to shoot a music video. She and her friend parked in a lot and, after an incident with several men, she left. But as she left, one of the men said he was going to stab them. Francis returned to her car to move it closer to the shoot. Two men were in her car, and she told them to get out. After moving her car, Francis called Ware and told him someone had broken into her car. Ware asked for her location in case she needed anything, but she did not tell him to come. However, Ware did come, and she told him that she was afraid the men had taken things from her car that had her address on it. Ware, Francis, and their friend Hendrix walked back to the parking lot where Francis had originally parked her car to make sure the men did not have any information about where she lived.

4 After looking on the ground and not seeing anything, they started to walk back. While in the alley, Francis saw one of the men, Garcia, who had been in her car. Ware asked Garcia if he had been in Francis’s car, and the men exchanged words that Francis described as “a little” hostile “but not too crazy.” According to Francis, Garcia was “saying that I was being rude to him and that I was coming for him or trying to attack him.” Francis then saw the second man who had been in her car, Rivera, and he was wearing a backpack that he took off. Francis, with Ware following her, started to leave the alley, but when Rivera reached into the backpack, Ware told Francis to move. She was walking away when she heard gunshots. Ware ran past her, but he did not have a gun in his hands. Francis never saw Ware with a gun. Francis returned to the music shoot. Later that night, she returned to her car and the police questioned her, but she did not mention hearing gunshots. B. Ware’s testimony Ware testified that he and Francis were friends, and he also managed her modeling career. When Francis called him that day, she said that someone had broken into her car and “some guys were tripping.” He therefore went to her location because he was concerned and wanted to make sure she was okay. Ware’s friend Hendrix went with him. Ware brought his loaded, unregistered gun, which he always carried because he tended to carry a lot of cash. When Ware arrived at Francis’s location, she told him that she wanted to make sure the men had not removed things from the car. They went to where she had originally parked her car, but they did not find anything. While in an alley off Maple, Ware saw gang graffiti. The graffiti made him nervous, so he took his

5 gun from his satchel and put it in his pocket. He did not know if he would see the guys, but if he did, he did not know what their response would be. After entering the alley, Ware saw Garcia, and Ware asked if he had been in Francis’s car.

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People v. Ware CA2/3, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-ware-ca23-calctapp-2026.