Thomas

INTRODUCTION

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In the evening of May 15, 2003, Brian Morrell parked his pickup truck on the street in front of Judith Barrera’s house. Barrera was in the backyard when she heard a man yell, “F— you, guys. E.Y.C.” Barrera ran to the front of her house where she saw codefendant Joseph Atilano Johnson get out of the front passenger seat of a car, jump into Morrell’s pickup, and drive off. Defendant, who had been in the backseat of the car, climbed into the front passenger seat where Johnson had been sitting. Barrera recognized both defendant and Johnson because they had driven by her house in the same car a few hours earlier.

Barrera got into her own car to try to find Johnson and the truck. Ten or 15 minutes after the truck had been taken, she spotted it near a convenience store about a mile and a half from her house. Barrera and her aunt, who was with her in the car, saw Johnson pushing the truck toward the gas pumps at the convenience store. Both women testified they saw defendant get out of the passenger seat of the truck and enter the convenience store.

Barrera yelled out, “That’s our truck.” Johnson called defendant out of the…