Aguirre

Background

In the late afternoon of April 14, 1995, appellant Jaime Javier Aguirre shot and killed Francisco Duran in the parking lot of the Comer Pocket, a Bakersfield pool hall. Witnesses testified Duran was leaving the pool hall with some friends when Aguirre pulled into the parking lot and quickly got out of his truck. He walked up to Duran and fired seven shots at close range into Duran’s head and upper torso.

Undisputed testimony at trial outlined the circumstances precipitating the incident. Aguirre and his girlfriend, Florita, had been living together for years with their two children. Since December 1994, however, Florita had been having an affair with Duran. Aguirre became aware of the affair when his elder child told him she saw Florita and Duran kissing. Although their relationship remained fairly stable, Aguirre felt upset and hurt by Florita’s affair and often told her to end it. He was particularly upset to leam Duran sometimes visited Florita at the Comer Pocket where she worked as a manager.

A mutual hostility developed between Duran and Aguirre, which often involved other family members and friends. Aguirre frequently received warnings from Duran’s…