Ortega

Introduction

Defendant, Andre Luis Ortega, murdered Walter Adams when defendant and Roque Bejarano were on a test drive of a vehicle Walter Adams had for sale. The test drive was merely a ruse to get to Walter Adams, whose son, Steve, was believed to have stolen jewelry and money from relatives of Robert Sisneros. Sisneros, Bejarano, and defendant were all part of the Norteños criminal street gang.

A jury convicted defendant of the first degree murder of Walter Adams. The jury also found true special circumstance allegations that the murder was committed by means of lying in wait, and that defendant killed Adams, or aided and abetted the killing while being an active participant in a criminal street gang. The jury found defendant had intentionally and personally discharged a firearm in the commission of the murder. The jury found the murder was committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal street gang, and that defendant was guilty of actively participating in a criminal street gang. The trial court sentenced defendant to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder conviction, plus a consecutive 25-year-to-life…