People v. Armster CA4/2

FACTS

After Justin Salazar (Salazar) told his friend Roque Viernes, Jr., (Viernes) that

Viernes’s girlfriend Reina Reyes (Reyes) had been cheating on him, Viernes told Reyes

what Salazar said and told her to move out of his house. When Salazar came to Viernes’s

house to help move Reyes’s belongings, Reyes argued with Salazar, threatened to kill him

and have her brother shoot at Salazar’s house. After Salazar left, Reyes told Viernes she

was going to stab Salazar. Viernes told Salazar about the new threat, and Salazar called

law enforcement to report the threats.

Reyes called her brother, codefendant Manuel Varela (Varela), who arrived in a car

to pick up Reyes. Codefendant Donzelle Benton (Benton) and defendant were also in the

3 car. The group drove past Salazar’s house several times. Defendant instructed Benton,

who was driving, to stop at his friend’s house so that he could get something. Defendant

returned to the car and stated, “‘mine has three’” and “‘it’s a throw-away.’” The group

then drove to Salazar’s house where Varela and defendant fired approximately five shots

at the house. A visitor in Salazar’s house was wounded by one of the…