People v. Woods

226 Cal. App. 3d 1037, 277 Cal. Rptr. 269, 91 Daily Journal DAR 554, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 462, 1991 Cal. App. LEXIS 25
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 11, 1991
DocketB041441
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 226 Cal. App. 3d 1037 (People v. Woods) 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. Woods, 226 Cal. App. 3d 1037, 277 Cal. Rptr. 269, 91 Daily Journal DAR 554, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 462, 1991 Cal. App. LEXIS 25 (Cal. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

*1043 Opinion

JOHNSON, J.

Appellant, Keith Edward Woods, appeals from a judgment imposed on a jury verdict finding him guilty of second degree murder, but finding not true the firearm use allegation; and of two counts of attempted murder while personally using a firearm. Because we find it was error to deny the instruction on the lesser related offense of assault with a deadly weapon, we conditionally reverse the attempted murder convictions. Additionally, the parties agree it was error not to fully advise appellant of his constitutional rights before admission of prior offenses. Consequently, the conviction on the prior offense allegation must be reversed as well. The judgment is affirmed in all other respects.

Facts and Proceedings Below

At approximately 11 a.m. on March 27, 1988, Waymond Jackson (Jackson) was riding in a car driven by his friend, John Smith (Smith), when he saw his friend Donald Hayes (Hayes) standing in a yard talking with his girlfriend, Leslie Gray (Gray).

Smith parked the car on 57th Street and Smith and Jackson got out to ask Hayes for some money. Hayes replied he did not have any so Smith and Jackson walked back to Smith’s parked car. As Jackson and Smith stood talking by Smith’s car, a white two-door Cadillac Coupe de Ville approached. The Cadillac slowed down as it reached Smith’s car. Appellant, seated in the passenger seat, pointed a gun at Jackson and Smith and fired two shots. The shots were fired from a distance of 10 to 15 feet. Smith and Jackson sought cover behind Smith’s car.

As the white Cadillac drove off, Jackson jumped up and said, “That was Katoe from Five-Nine.” “Five-Nine” refers to the Five-Nine East Coast Crips gang.

In the meantime, Hayes had gotten into his car and had pulled away on 57th Street in the direction of Compton Boulevard. Hayes’s car pulled up to the stop and prepared to make a left turn. The white Cadillac pulled up to Hayes’s car in the right lane. Shots were fired from someone in the white Cadillac into Hayes’s car. One bullet struck Hayes in the right forehead, fatally wounding him.

Jackson, Smith and Gray testified to the foregoing with only minor deviation.

Jackson, an admitted Bloodstone Villain gang member, testified the Bloods and the Crips do not get along. The neighborhood where the shoot *1044 ings occurred was Bloodstone Villain territory. Bloodstone Villains and the Crips gangs hate each other and have a violent relationship.

Smith testified that immediately after the shots were fired at him and Jackson and the white Cadillac had accelerated up the street, he got in his car and followed the white Cadillac as it turned right onto Compton. He saw the head of a third man rise up in the backseat and look back and forth as if to see if the police or someone else was following.

Smith testified the vicinity of 57th Street and Compton is a Bloodstone Villain gang neighborhood. He further stated a person with the moniker Tee Tiger had been shot at a liquor store at 56th Street and Compton. Tee Tiger was a member of the Five-Nine East Coast Crips gang.

Gray testified that immediately after the shots were fired at Jackson and Smith she ran up the street to where Hayes’s car was waiting at the stop sign at Compton. She heard at least one gunshot and saw Hayes’s head turn to the side. She followed Hayes’s car where it crossed Compton and crashed into a gate at an apartment house. Gray testified she knew Hayes had the name “Don Kapone” tatooed on his arm but said she never called him by that name.

A forensic pathologist testified the autopsy revealed the name “Don Kapone” was tatooed on Hayes’s left forearm.

Paul Reyna, a police officer assigned to the gang unit, was the investigating officer in the case. From the police computer files, Detective Reyna discovered there were 25 possible Katoes in the Los Angeles area and 3 Katoes in the Five-Nine East Coast Crips gang. Appellant was the only Katoe in the Five-Nine East Coast gang who was also known to drive a white Cadillac, thus the investigation focused on appellant. Detective Reyna testified as an expert on gang culture generally and testified specifically as to evidence uncovered in a search of appellant’s home. In appellant’s bedroom, Detective Reyna found a blown-up photograph of a funeral. The photograph depicted male Blacks dressed in blue standing around a casket. Members of the Crips gang dress in blue. When appellant was asked the identity of the person in the coffin, he replied it was his homeboy, Tee Tiger. Some of the people in the photograph were making Five-Nine East Coast Crips gang hand signs and one wore a sweater with the numbers 5 and 9 on it. Detective Reyna was of the opinion the people in the photo were Five-Nine East Coast gang members.

On top of a dresser directly beneath this photo was a stack of letters addressed to appellant which bore gang graffiti. Some of the letters were *1045 from Anthony Hunter, who Detective Reyna testified was otherwise known by his moniker, Tee Tiger. Another letter was addressed to “O.G. Katoe Loc.” The term “O.G.” stands for “original gangster” in gang parlance and is a sign of respect. The name Loc stands for crazy and usually refers to a gang member who will stand up for his neighborhood and his gang. One document was a roster or roll call of the members of the Five-Nine East Coast Crips gang. Among the names on this roster were O.G. Tee Tiger Loc and Katoe. Another roster had slogans written on it such as “Five-Nine East Coast Crips,” “Neighborhood Cuz,” “Bloodstone Villain Killer,” “O.G. Tee Tiger” and “O.G. Katoe Loc.” The words “Bloodstone Villains” were also on this document and were crossed out. It is common for a gang to cross out the name of a rival gang. One letter bore graffiti depicting a person behind bars, the name “O.G. Tee Tiger,” and a “B” crossed out and a “K,” which indicated “Bloods Killers.” In most of these documents and letters, the letter “B” is omitted from words because Crips gang members do not use the letter “B” as it stands for Bloods.

Detective Reyna also testified the homicide victim Hayes had been a Bloods gang member. He said the name Capone is a moniker used by some gang members. The tattoo on Hayes’s arm began with the letter “K” rather than the letter “C” because Bloods gang members do not use the letter “C” as it stands for Crips.

The detective stated when a gang member is killed by a rival gang, gang culture demands retaliation against the rival gang. Such retaliation is usually done immediately. Tee Tiger died in July 1986, approximately one and a half years earlier than the shooting in this case.

Appellant’s mother, Essie Woods, testified on his behalf. She said on March 27, 1988, appellant, Mrs. Woods and her five other children lived on East 98th Street, a considerable distance from the location of the shooting. That morning Mrs. Woods got up around 6 a.m. and observed appellant asleep in bed. Mrs. Woods testified appellant did not get up that morning until awakened by a telephone call between 11:30 and noon. She said appellant left the house around 1:30 or 2:30 that afternoon.

Mrs. Woods identified photographs of her white four-door Fleetwood Cadillac taken by Detective Reyna during the search of appellant’s home.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
226 Cal. App. 3d 1037, 277 Cal. Rptr. 269, 91 Daily Journal DAR 554, 91 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 462, 1991 Cal. App. LEXIS 25, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-woods-calctapp-1991.