People v. Stewart CA4/2

I. INTRODUCTION

In 2021, defendants and appellants Jevante Terrell Stewart, Lonzo Lee Ford, and

Dameontae C. Wright-Patterson, were tried before the same jury and found guilty of the

first degree murder of Curtis McDaniel. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 189.1) The jury

also found gang sentencing enhancement allegations (§ 186.22, subd. (b)) and gang-

murder special circumstance allegations (§ 190.22, subd. (a)(22)) true against each

defendant. The evidence showed that defendants drove to McDaniel’s house on

September 16, 2017, and shot and killed McDaniel in retaliation for a September 15,

2017 shooting at a member of defendants’ gang by members of a rival gang associated

with McDaniel’s son.

Each defendant was also convicted of possessing a firearm as a felon at the time of

the McDaniel shooting. (§ 29800, subd. (a); counts 2 [Stewart], 3 [Stewart] 4 [Wright-

Patterson].) As to Ford, the jury found that a principal in the murder personally and

intentionally discharged a firearm causing McDaniel’s death. (§ 12022.53, subd. (e)(1).)

As to Stewart and Wright-Patterson, the jury found the same firearm allegation not true.

Based on the gang-murder special circumstance…