Garcia

Custodio Garcia, defendant, was one of four perpetrators involved in a home invasion. Two of his accomplices were shot and killed by the victim of the home invasion. Defendant submitted his case to the trial court based on the preliminary hearing transcript. The trial court found defendant guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary, and murder. Pursuant to a prior stipulation between the parties, the murder was reduced to involuntary manslaughter. Defendant appeals, claiming he was improperly convicted of the provocative act murder of his accomplice because: (1) there was no provocative act, (2) his guilt cannot be based on the provocative act of a deceased accomplice, even though that accomplice is not the one alleged in the information as the murder victim, and (3) the murder victim himself committed a provocative act which was the sole cause of his death, thus absolving defendant of legal culpability. In addition, defendant claims the evidence is insufficient to support his other convictions and the trial court erred in imposing the upper term for the burglary conviction. We affirm.

Facts and Proceedings

Defendant, Adrian Alvarez, Nemecio Quezada, and one other…