People v. Wooten CA2/5

I. Facts2

A. The underlying crime In 1988, Dwayne Walker was shot and killed at a gas station, and the shooter used a .38 caliber bullet. Three witnesses saw the gunman rifle through Walker’s pockets and search his car. The gunman then carjacked a woman at a nearby church and drove off. Despite witness descriptions and fingerprints found in Walker’s car, the police were unable to identify the killer. In 2002, cold case investigators resubmitted the fingerprints to the California identification databank, and defendant was identified as a possible match. The witnesses and the carjacking victim identified defendant’s photograph with differing degrees of certainty. When test-fired in 2002, the .38 caliber revolver that defendant used in a 1996 robbery could neither be conclusively identified nor excluded as the firearm that killed Walker, as the gun’s barrel had been damaged. B. Conviction and appeal In January 2003, the People charged defendant with a single count of murder (§ 187). The People also alleged the

We draw these facts from our prior, unpublished appellate opinion affirming defendant’s conviction (People v. Wooten (Sept. 13, 2004, B171508) [nonpub. opn.]), but…