People v. Menchaca CA2/3

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

1. The charges, plea agreement, and sentence In 2010, the People charged Menchaca with attempting to murder Wilson Guzman and Samuel Rivera. (§§ 664, 187, subd. (a).) The second amended information added a second defendant—Jonathan Leonis Moore. According to the record, Moore is Menchaca’s brother. The second amended information alleged that a principal personally used and intentionally discharged a firearm (§ 12022.53, subds. (b), (c), (e)(1)) and that

References to statutes are to the Penal Code. Effective June 30, 2022, former section 1170.95 was renumbered to section 1172.6, with no change in text. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.)

2 Menchaca personally used and intentionally discharged a firearm causing great bodily injury to Rivera (§ 12022.53, subds. (b), (c), (d)).2 At Menchaca’s preliminary hearing,3 Guzman and Rivera testified they were walking down a street in Bellflower one night in October 2009. Menchaca and two other men pulled up in a car. One man got out of the car and walked up to Guzman, announced he was from the Swan Bloods gang, and began “popping his collar” and making gestures.4 He challenged Guzman to a fight and Guzman…