People v. Sanders CA2/1

BACKGROUND

A. The Alleged Offense Conduct Because courts may not engage in factfinding at the prima facie stage (People v. Lewis (2021) 11 Cal.5th 952, 972), we summarize the underlying facts briefly and only as background for understanding the issues. We draw this procedural history from our prior opinion in Sanders’s direct appeal of his convictions (People v. Sanders (Mar. 3, 2005, B171765) [nonpub. opn.]). The prosecution alleged that two men approached an abandoned building in South Los Angeles where 15 to 20 members of the 38th Street gang were gathered. The two men moved to opposite sides of the street and opened fire on the 38th Street members, who fired back. Maria Villalvazo, who lived in a home nearby, was struck and killed by a stray bullet when she went to a window to see what was happening. None of the 38th Street members was hit, but one of the two men who initiated the shooting collapsed, and he and his companion fled. Police found a trail of blood leading away from the area where the man collapsed, and DNA testing disclosed that the blood was Sanders’s. Sanders went to a hospital for treatment for a gunshot wound in his ankle less than an hour after the…