People v. Salas CA2/7

INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted Jesus Salas Jr. of willful, deliberate, and premeditated murder and attempted willful, deliberate, and premeditated murder and found true various firearm allegations. The trial court sentenced Salas to a prison term of 50 years to life, plus a term of life with a minimum parole eligibility of seven years. The trial court struck the firearm enhancements on the attempted murder conviction. Salas argues the trial court erred in instructing the jury with CALCRIM No. 571 and CALCRIM No. 604 on imperfect self- defense for murder and attempted murder, respectively. Salas contends the instructions were erroneous because they did not tell the jurors that they could convict him of voluntary manslaughter rather than murder (and attempted voluntary manslaughter rather than attempted murder) if they found he used more force than was reasonably necessary for self-defense. We conclude that the trial court did not err in instructing the jury on self-defense with the pattern jury instructions. Therefore, we affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

A. Salas Kills One Person and Injures Another August 29, 2003 was Osiris “Ozzy” Bernal’s 19th birthday. That…