People v. Nolasco CA3

BACKGROUND

The amended complaint deemed an information charged defendant with murder. (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a).)2 It further alleged defendant discharged a firearm causing great bodily injury and committed the murder while he was released from custody on a prior pending offense. (§§ 12022.53, subds. (b),(c), & (d), 12022.1, subd. (b).) Finally, the information alleged the special circumstance that defendant committed the murder while he was engaged in the commission of an attempted robbery. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17).) The essential facts of the case are set forth in People v. Nolasco (March 18, 2002, C033556 [nonpub. opn.].)3 “On January 22, 1998, around 7:16 p.m., defendant fired six to eight gunshots into [the victim], killing him while he sat in his car in front of defendant’s house. Defendant then drove the car away from the scene and crashed it into a tree.” (Ibid.) Defendant told his girlfriend, “he was trying to ‘jack,’ i.e., rob [the victim] because defendant needed money for his lawyer.” (Ibid.) At trial, defendant “admitted killing [the victim], but claimed he did so in self-defense when [the victim] pulled a gun on him” during a drug deal that went wrong. (Ibid.) In…