Zavala

BACKGROUND

In the early morning of September 2002, a group of friends and family members left a bar, went to their friend Connie’s house, and sat outside talking. Three of them were wearing red shirts, and one was also wearing red shoes. A car drove slowly by the group with its headlights on, turned around, drove back to the group with its headlights off, and stopped in front of them. When it stopped, shots were fired from the passenger side of the car. The friends ran toward a truck and a person in the car continued shooting. Two of the friends were injured by gunshots and a third was killed. In the course of investigating the shooting, Detective Eduardo Rodriguez identified defendant as a “person of interest” with whom he wanted to speak. In 2006, acting as an informant on a different homicide, defendant spoke with Rodriguez about a number of shootings that occurred in 2002. During the discussions, defendant admitted he had been involved in the shooting at Connie’s house. He told Rodriguez that that night, he, and his friend “Mono,” were at a friend’s house, and when they left, Mono got the gun out of the trunk of the car and put it near him in the front passenger seat.

…