People v. Frontuto CA2/4

BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background2 On June 14, 1998, Steve Alvarez and two-to-four other members of the Blythe Street Gang decided to “cruise around” to find people tagging in their territory, intending to jump them if they refused to stop. The group drove around in two cars until finding a group of four men “hanging” outside of a building. Several members of the group outside the building were from Crazy Mexican Life (CML), a “party crew” that included defendant and Rodriguez.3 The Blythe Street group parked their cars and approached the CML group.

Subsequent references to statutes are to the Penal Code. The following summary is taken from our prior opinion resolving the direct appeal from judgment to provide context. One witness testified that a party crew is a “group of people getting together to go out and have a good time.” The group also engaged in tagging, which involved writing their aliases on buildings. At the time of the shooting, around 20 people were associated with

CML.

2 As the Blythe Street group approached, members of the CML group asked where they were from and one person responded, “Blythe Street.” Defendant and another person repeated…