Fiore

Defendant Brian Cole Fiore drove his friend, David Fields, from the Bay Area to Humboldt County so Fields could buy a large quantity of marijuana. Instead of buying the marijuana, Fields stole it at gunpoint, and Fiore drove him away in Fiore’s Jeep. A chase ensued, and multiple shots were fired at law enforcement officers from the Jeep. The officers did not fire back. The pursuit ended when the Jeep hit a spike strip and drove over an embankment. Fields was found dead with a gunshot wound in the head. Fiore was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the head, and he survived.

Fiore was charged with multiple offenses, and a jury convicted him of some but not others. He was convicted of one count of second degree murder of Fields and an accompanying enhancement of personal and intentional discharge of a firearm resulting in great bodily injury or death; two counts of attempted murder, with one accompanied by an enhancement of personal and intentional discharge of a firearm; and two counts of first degree robbery. The jury was unable to return verdicts on three other counts of attempted murder, one count of first degree burglary, and one count of resisting an…