People v. Marez CA4/2

BACKGROUND

In March 2006, defendant was charged with two counts of premeditated murder

(§ 187, subd. (a)) for shooting Narciso Perez and Henry Armando Valle to death. The

allegations included multiple firearm enhancements (§ 12022.53, subds. (b), (c), (d)) and

a gang enhancement (§ 186.22, subd. (b)) on each count. Neither the felony complaint

nor a subsequent information named another defendant nor indicated any co-perpetrator

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated.

2 or accomplice. In May 2009, pursuant to a plea agreement, defendant pled guilty to two

counts of voluntary manslaughter (§ 192, subd. (a)) and admitted personal use of a

firearm (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)) in committing the slayings. Defendant stipulated that the

preliminary hearing transcript contained the factual basis for his plea. He was sentenced

under the plea agreement to a determinate term of 29 years four months in prison.

According to testimony at defendant’s preliminary hearing on the murder charges,

a deputy sheriff responded around 7:00 a.m. on January 20, 2005, to an investigation in

progress in Chino Hills, where the victims’ bodies were discovered…