People v. Spencer CA2/3

BACKGROUND

I. Evidence at the trial of Spencer and Harold Mangram for

murder and arson Spencer was jointly tried with Harold Mangram for murder and arson. A third participant in the crimes, Frank Villareal, pled guilty to five counts of voluntary manslaughter and testified at Mangram and Spencer’s trial. A. The fire In September 1991, Juan Zuniga was living with 16 family members in Unit 481, a two-story apartment in the Jordan

1 All further undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

Effective June 30, 2022, section 1170.95 was renumbered to section 1172.6, with no change in text. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.)

2 Downs complex. The family had problems with drug users who would hang out near their front door and harass the family. Zuniga’s wife had to wash her porch daily because people would urinate on it. She complained to the housing authority twice a week. Zuniga slept downstairs in the kitchen with his wife and three children. Just before 6:00 a.m. on the morning of September 7, 1991, Zuniga heard a noise. He went outside and saw three men near his front door. One man was a bit further away from the other two men. Zuniga went back inside and got his gun,…