People v. Gonzalez CA2/3

BACKGROUND

Viewed in accordance with the usual rule of appellate review (People v. Ochoa (1993) 6 Cal.4th 1199, 1206), the evidence established the following. 1. Prosecution evidence. About 1:35 a.m. on July 12, 2012, Carrie Adams and her boyfriend Charles Cummings were in their room at the Right Step Motel. They were watching television when they heard a knock on the door. Cummings remained sitting on the bed while Adams answered the knock. When she opened the door, defendant Gonzalez was standing there. Adams asked him, “Who are you looking for?” Gonzalez pulled back a blanket he was holding to reveal a shotgun. He “cocked”2 the weapon, making a “clack-clack” sound, and pointed it at Adams’s chest from two or three feet away. Adams testified she was familiar with guns and recognized it as a shotgun. Cummings testified he recognized the sound of Gonzalez’s weapon as the noise a shotgun makes when “[y]ou’re ejecting it, getting ready to fire.” He looked over and saw Gonzalez pointing a shotgun at Adams. Cummings said, “What the hell is going on?”, and Gonzalez responded by walking down the hall. Adams immediately slammed the door shut. Shortly thereafter, she and Cummings heard…