Torres

Defendant appeals from the judgment following his conviction of one count of first degree murder with robbery as a special circumstance and two counts of attempted robbery. Defendant argues his convictions should be reversed because, as to each victim, he committed at most the crime of attempted extortion, not attempted robbery, and he was the victim of misconduct by the prosecutor and ineffective assistance of counsel. We reject these arguments and affirm the judgment.

Facts and Proceedings Below

Defendant was a “rent" collector for the 18th Street gang in Los Angeles. His duty was to collect payments, referred to by the gang as “rent,” from drug dealers in the gang’s territory for the privilege of doing business there. As we describe more fully below, one night defendant’s rent collecting activities went too far and he shot and killed Jose Argueta, one of the drug dealers from whom he was attempting to collect rent. The same night, defendant also attempted to obtain money at gunpoint from Jose Gonzales, who was not a drug dealer, but simply a passerby on his way to his car.

At the trial Officer John Thacker, a member of the Los Angeles Police Department’s gang unit,…