People v. Muro CA5

INTRODUCTION

On November 2, 2022, appellant and defendant Jose Muro, Jr. (appellant) shot and seriously wounded Hector Vasquez. At the time of the shooting, Vasquez was dating appellant’s former girlfriend, Deja Parra, and appellant shot Vasquez when he discovered Vasquez was at Parra’s house. Appellant was charged with premeditated attempted murder. After a jury trial, he was convicted of attempted voluntary manslaughter as a lesser included offense, along with other offenses, with firearm and great bodily injury enhancements. He was sentenced to an aggregate term of 27 years in prison. On appeal from the judgment, appellate counsel filed a brief that summarized the facts with citations to the record, raised no issues, and asked this court to independently review the record. (People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436.) In response to this court’s Wende letter, appellant filed a supplemental brief and argued Parra and Vasquez gave false and contradictory testimony, he did not receive a fair trial, and his sentence was too high. We review his contentions and affirm.

FACTS

Parra and appellant had been in a relationship, lived together in a house in Bakersfield, and were the parents of…