People v. Trejo CA5

INTRODUCTION

Carlos Rodriguez (Carlos) and Eduardo Alvarado (Eduardo), members of a Sureño gang, were fatally shot in a drive-by shooting in Reedley. Both victims had just turned 16 years old. Appellants/defendants Hector Trejo and Manuel Villanueva, members of the Norteño Vario East Side Reedley (VESR) gang, were arrested for the murders based on information provided by Cesar Garcia, an informant within the VESR gang. Defendants told Garcia they selected the victims at random and committed the murders in retaliation for the unrelated murder of a young member of VESR by a Sureño. After a joint jury trial, defendants were convicted as charged of counts I and II, first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)),1 and the jury found true the firearm allegations (§ 12022.53, subds. (b), (c), (d), (e)(1); § 12022.5, subd. (a)(1)) and gang enhancements (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(4)(B)). The jury also found true the special circumstances of multiple murder, and that the murders were intentional and perpetrated by means of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle (§ 190.2, subds. (a)(3), (a)(21)). Both defendants were sentenced to life without parole (LWOP) for counts I and II, plus 50 year…