People v. Molina CA2/1

BACKGROUND

1. Conviction and sentence As summarized in our decision from defendant’s direct appeal, in March 1985, defendant and Macedonio Rodriguez attacked Manuel Garcia in a parking lot in Wilmington, and Garcia died from multiple stab wounds.2 Rodriguez was not apprehended until 1994. In 1995, defendant and Rodriguez were charged by information with murder, with an allegation that defendant personally used a knife in committing the offense. Defendant was tried later that same year. Defendant’s jury received the following instructions relevant to this appeal.

Unspecified statutory citations are to the Penal Code. We provide these facts solely as context for the charge filed against defendant, recognizing factual summaries from appellate opinions “may not be used to determine a petitioner’s eligibility at the prima facie stage” of a section 1172.6 proceeding. (People v. Lee (2023) 95 Cal.App.5th 1164, 1183 (Lee).) The factual summary has no bearing on our resolution of the issues on appeal.

2 CALJIC No. 3.00 explained “principals in the crime” included “[t]hose who directly and actively commit the act constituting the crime” as well as “[t]hose who aid and abet the…