People v. Mejia CA2/8

BACKGROUND

In the early morning hours of October 12, 2005, defendant and four fellow 18th Street gang members (Jesus Lorenzo, Adam Perez, Edwin Caseros and Carlos Hernandez) went to the home of a rival gang member (Leonardo Pulido) with whom codefendant Perez had a long and contentious history. After unsuccessfully trying to get Pulido to come outside, defendant and his accomplices went around to the back of Pulido’s apartment building, repeatedly threw rocks at Pulido’s bedroom window, and then attempted to scale the wall and climb into the apartment through the window. Lorenzo, who was armed and the first to attempt to get into the apartment, climbed part of the way through the bedroom window and was shot and killed by Pulido. Before defendant and his accomplices fled the scene, several shots were fired at Pulido’s apartment. Shell casings found outside the apartment matched the handgun found near defendant upon his arrest a short distance from the scene. It was later determined that Lorenzo’s blood was on the clothes defendant was wearing at the time of his arrest. In 2010, defendant, Perez, Caseros and Hernandez were prosecuted for the first degree murder of Lorenzo on a…