People v. Rodriguez CA2/6

STATEMENT OF FACTS

At about midnight on May 10, 2011, appellant and Eduardo "Dingo" Gonzalez were driving in an Isuzu Trooper in South Gate when they saw Guillermo Elisea. Gonzalez fatally shot Elisea twice in the back and the Trooper sped away.

1 All further undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. Several weeks later, the police went to Gonzalez's residence and recovered a .40-caliber pistol. Tests confirmed that expended casings and a bullet found at the scene of the shooting were fired from the pistol. Following his arrest, appellant was placed in a cell along with two sheriff's deputies posing as inmates. In a recorded conversation that was played for the jury, appellant told the deputies he was riding with his "brother" Dingo when Dingo spotted Elisea standing in front of an apartment building. Dingo had been "hunting" Elisea due to a dispute over a woman. Dingo switched seats with appellant and shot Elisea multiple times in the back before appellant drove away. Appellant took the expended casings and flushed them down a toilet. He then parked the Trooper in Riverside on property owned by his girlfriend's brother. Appellant also said the…