Solis

A jury convicted Victor Manuel Solis (Solis) of murder in the second degree of Kenneth O’Brien (O’Brien) (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)) and found Solis had been personally armed with a handgun (§ 12022, subd. (a)(1)). The trial judge sentenced Solis to a total term of 16 years to life.

O’Brien was shot by a confederate of Solis. Solis’s conviction was based upon his participation as an aider and abettor. On appeal, Solis raises a number of issues, which we elect to categorize in the Discussion portion of this opinion as follows: I. Error in the exclusion of certain defense evidence; II. Miscellaneous instructional error; and III. Instructional error in failing to submit to the jury instructions pertaining to the “predicate” or “target” offense giving rise to aiding and abetting liability, as required in the recent case of People v. Mouton (1993) 15 Cal.App.4th 1313 [ 19 Cal.Rptr.2d 423 ]. We conclude there was no error in the court’s handling of the issues raised in parts I and II of the discussion. We also find no error in the issues discussed in part III, and publish our discussion of part III because of our conclusion that the rule set forth in Mouton is not well…