The People v. Escobar CA6

BACKGROUND

At 2:00 a.m. on March 21, 2009, defendant’s brother, Michael, was shot at a party hosted in Watsonville by members of the Varrio Green Valley gang (VGV), a Watsonville subset of the Norteno criminal street gang. Defendant and Michael were members of the East Las Casitas gang (ELC), a Salinas subset of the Norteno gang. Michael was taken to Stanford Hospital where he underwent vascular surgery that was completed at approximately 4:00 p.m. On the afternoon of March 21, 2009, Angel Escobedo, Sonny Escobedo, Rene Lara, Jesse Nieto, and Marshall Hernandez were playing basketball at the Apple Hill apartment complex in Watsonville. Defendant and Jose Sandoval aggressively approached the group and asked whether any players were gang members. After denials, defendant and Sandoval walked away. Defendant shortly returned with his hands in his

2 Defendant raised a custody-credit issue but has informed us that the trial court has corrected the error.

2 pockets and demanded to know where the players were from. He pulled out a revolver from his pocket, and the players began running away. Defendant shot at the group four to six times. Two bullets hit and killed Angel Escobedo. The…