Howard

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Procedural History In January 2022, the Santa Clara County District Attorney filed an amended information (information) charging Howard with the murder of Reinol H.M.3 (§ 187, subd. (a); count 1). The information further alleged that Howard personally and intentionally caused Reinol’s death with a handgun when committing the murder (§ 12022.53, subd. (d)) (hereafter firearm enhancement), personally used a handgun (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)) when committing or attempting to commit the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter (§ 192) and was out of custody on bail when he committed the charged offense (§ 12022.1, subd. (b)) (hereafter out-on-bail enhancement). In addition, the information alleged various circumstances in aggravation (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.421(a), (b); § 1170, subd. (b)).

2 Throughout this opinion, and consistent with the usage of the parties at trial and on appeal, we use the term “n-word” when referring to the racial slur that Howard testified to at trial and further use dashes when quoting that word from Howard’s testimony. (See People v. Ware (2022) 14 Cal.5th 151, 159, fn. 1.) 3 We refer to the victim and certain…