People v. Suarez CA4/3

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Suarez was 16 years old and a member of the La Jolla gang when he shot Manuel Rodriguez four times, killing him. The following summary of the facts surrounding the murder are taken from this court’s unpublished opinion on the direct appeal from Suarez’s conviction. (People v. Ortega and Suarez (April 26, 2011, G041522) [nonpub. opn.].) “Suarez and [his then-girlfriend] Ortega gathered in May 2006 with fellow La Jolla gang members Christian Jimenez, Rafael Luna, and others at a friend’s house, where Suarez informed the group that members of the rival Atwood gang had driven through La Jolla territory in Placentia. Jimenez testified Suarez, whose gang monikers included ‘Woody’ and ‘Silent,’ urged the group to retaliate for Atwood’s perceived transgression. According to Jimenez, Suarez stated the group ‘had to go back’ to Atwood territory and, when Jimenez remarked on the danger of doing so unarmed, Suarez told them he had a gun. “Ortega took the wheel of a vehicle she had stolen the night before, and Suarez, Jimenez, and Luna joined her. As Ortega drove down a street in territory Atwood claimed, they passed Rodriguez, who was walking towards an ice cream…