State v. Lopez-Rios

669 N.W.2d 603, 2003 Minn. LEXIS 643, 2003 WL 22311229
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedOctober 9, 2003
DocketC9-01-1372
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 669 N.W.2d 603 (State v. Lopez-Rios) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Lopez-Rios, 669 N.W.2d 603, 2003 Minn. LEXIS 643, 2003 WL 22311229 (Mich. 2003).

Opinions

OPINION

ANDERSON, PAUL H., Justice.

Roberto Lopez-Rios was convicted and sentenced in Hennepin County District Court for the crimes of first-degree murder committed for the benefit of a gang and drive-by shooting committed for the benefit of a gang. On appeal, Lopez-Rios alleges, among other things, error in the admission of expert testimony relating to criminal street gangs, error in the failure to provide a limiting jury instruction, and prosecutorial misconduct. We affirm as modified.

This case arises out of allegations that appellant Roberto Lopez-Rios was involved in a criminal street gang-related drive-by shooting in retaliation for an earner shooting incident purportedly committed by a rival gang. Lopez-Rios did not testify at his trial nor did he call any witnesses. Francisco Vargas, a Latin Kings gang member, was present during the shootings and the events leading up to the shootings. Vargas pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the benefit of a gang and second-degree assault for his role in the crimes for which Lopez-Rios was charged. As part of his plea agreement, Vargas testified at Lopez-Rios’s trial. Vargas’s testimony provided information on the events that led up to the shootings and about the shootings.

On the evening of December 2, 2000, Vargas, who was then 18 years old, left a dance near Lake Street and Portland Avenue in Minneapolis to go to a party on Bloomington Avenue and Twenty-fourth Street. As Vargas and some other Latin Kings gang members were waiting for a bus, someone from a passing car shot at them, wounding two Latin Kings members — a man named Ganbino, who is Lopez-Rios’s cousin, and another man called Gallo. An unidentified person told Vargas that the shooters were members of the 18th Street gang.

Two vehicles, a truck and a red four-door Lincoln Continental occupied by two Sureño gang members, Hymie Hernandez and Issodoro Nava, stopped at the shooting scene and were used to transport the victims to the Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC). Ganbino rode with Vargas in the truck and Gallo rode in the Continental. At HCMC, Vargas and Hernandez brought the victims inside the hospital and left. Vargas and Hernandez then walked to a payphone near the Met-rodome where Hernandez called Nava, the Continental’s driver, to ask that he pick them up. Nava picked up the two men and they proceeded to the home of then 16-year-old Lopez-Rios to tell him and his family that Ganbino was in the hospital. After relaying what had happened, Vargas asked if Lopez-Rios wanted to go with them to see their other friends at the “blue house” on Bloomington and Twenty-fourth. Lopez-Rios said he was not ready to leave his home at that point, so Vargas and the Sureños went to the blue house without him.

On the way to the blue house, Hernandez asked Vargas if he or the other Latin Kings wanted to “do something.” Hernandez said he knew where the 18th Streeters lived; and if the Latin Kings wanted to “do something,” he could find a gun. Var[608]*608gas responded that he needed to see his Mends first. Upon arriving at the blue house, Vargas was told that his Mends had left for Lopez-Rios’s home, so Vargas, Hernandez, and Nava returned to Lopez-Rios’s home. As Vargas approached the home, Lopez-Rios and Latin Kings member Arturo Montano came out. Vargas told Lopez-Rios that Hernandez and Nava would help find the 18th Streeters to pay them back for shooting Lopez-Rios’s cousin and the other Latin Kings gang member. Lopez-Rios said he was ready to “get out.”

Lopez-Rios and Montano got into the Continental with Vargas, Hernandez, and Nava. Nava was the driver, Hernandez sat in the front passenger seat, Vargas was seated behind Hernandez, Lopez Rios was seated behind Nava, and Montano was seated between Lopez-Rios and Vargas. Hernandez asked Lopez-Rios, Montano, and Vargas if they wanted to “do something”; they responded that they did, and the group proceeded to look for “some 18ths.” As the group neared the area where the 18th Streeters lived, Lopez-Rios produced a .380 semiautomatic handgun. He said that if the 18th Streeters were found on his side of the car, he wanted “to use the gun.” If the 18ths were on the other side, then Vargas would “do it.”

Shortly after midnight on December 3, the group spotted 17-year-old Ernesto Ayala and then 19-year-old Jose Artega walking on the sidewalk toward a fourplex apartment building near 57th Street and 33rd Avenue. Artega lived in a nearby apartment and the two of them were walking from Artega’s place to Ayala’s apartment. Both Ayala and Artega were identified as members of the 18th Street gang and, as the Continental approached Ayala and Artega, the two men were on the right side of the car — Vargas’s side. Lopez-Rios started to hand the gun to Vargas, but dropped it on the floor between Mon-tano’s legs. Montano picked up the gun as Vargas rolled down the rear window so that the gun could be used to shoot out the window. Hernandez then said it would be better to open the door. Vargas opened the door, and Montano crossed over Vargas and got out of the car. Montano started shooting, wounding Ayala. Ayala then fired two shots from a revolver, one of which struck the rear passenger panel of the car.

As the exchange of gunfire ensued, Vargas moved to the middle of the back seat to make room for Montano. Montano then returned to the car. Ayala, who was shot twice, managed to get over a fence and into the backyard of his apartment building where he collapsed and died. An autopsy revealed that Ayola died as the result of two bullet wounds, one of which hit his aorta. The occupants of the Continental then drove away from the scene, unaware of Ayala’s death. Vargas said that once they got on the freeway, everyone in the car, including Lopez-Rios, celebrated by clasping hands in a gesture similar to a high five.

Artega survived the shooting and testified at Lopez-Rios’s trial. Artega stated that he noticed the Continental as it came up the street and saw it stop. The car’s occupants were staring at him and were making “movements,” like opening the doors. Becoming concerned, Artega told Ayala to run, to follow him, and then heard gunshots coming from two guns as he ran. Artega ran for several blocks, sat in a park for a while, and eventually returned to the area where the shooting occurred. When he got back to the shooting scene, he talked with one of the investigators who had responded to a homicide call.

Later that morning, Vargas went to the hospital to visit the Latin Kings who were [609]*609the victims of the first shooting. Lopez Rios also was at the hospital. By this time, investigators looking into the shootings had already interviewed the Latin Kings victims. The Latin Kings told Vargas that Ayala had died. Alfonso Martinez, a Latin Kings member not involved in the shooting, testified that while he was at the hospital, he heard Lopez-Rios tell his cousin that he had used his own bullets and “got [the 18th Street] back.” Sometime later that day, Lopez-Rios and some other Latin Kings gang members were driving around, “cruising” to find more 18th Streeters.

During their investigation, the police recovered from the crime scene six spent cartridge casings and a bullet fragment, all consistent with having been fired from a .380 semiautomatic. They also found a .22 Smith and Wesson six-shot revolver with two empty casings and four live rounds in the cylinder. This gun was found hanging out of Ayala’s right pocket. The police located the red Continental. However, Nava, the vehicle’s driver, was in Mexico and the police interviewed him there.

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Bluebook (online)
669 N.W.2d 603, 2003 Minn. LEXIS 643, 2003 WL 22311229, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lopez-rios-minn-2003.