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Background Seventeen-year-old Townley was accused by information with attempted murder, committed with three accomplices: 18-year-old Jose Ruben Rocha, 16-year-old Jesse Carranco, and 18-year-old Noe Flores. The charges arose from the gang-related shooting of Javier Lazaro around 9:00 p.m. on February 17, 2006. In a telephone call at about 7:00 p.m. that night, Townley asked Flores to "do a ride." Flores drove his 1992 white Honda Accord to pick up Townley and his girlfriend, Amanda Johnston, in Santa Cruz. Once in the car, Townley showed Flores a small black handgun, which Flores handled and returned to Townley. Townley directed Flores to drive to Watsonville, where they picked up Carranco (known as "Little Huero") and Rocha (known as "Listo"), whom Flores had not met before. Townley was wearing People's Exhibit 23, a red and black plaid Pendleton shirt- jacket, which Johnston had given him as a gift. Carranco wore a red hooded sweatshirt; he had four dots tattooed on his knuckles, signifying his association with Northside, a Norteno gang.1 Rocha wore a black flannel jacket with white in it. Flores wore black

1 According to gang expert Roy Morales, a sergeant in the Santa…