People v. Benson CA3

BACKGROUND

The People’s theory was that defendant, together with Smith and Ware, planned to rob a pizza delivery driver at gunpoint, by ordering a pizza delivered to another person’s house, while they lurked, armed, waiting to rob the driver. Carl Almirol had worked as a delivery driver for two Stockton Domino’s pizza parlors since 2008, and had been working at one on Charter Way since 2009. Domino’s has a safety policy for their delivery employees, which included minimizing the cash carried, being careful with first-time customers by calling them to verify the order, and not delivering to certain locations at night due to risk of robbery. The store commonly received three “prank” orders per night, and about once per night Almirol returned with an undelivered pizza. Almirol had his own safety practices of parking in the middle of the street, personally calling the customer with his mobile telephone when he was near the delivery address, asking the customer to turn on a porch light, and not carrying a wallet. On Sunday, June 26, 2011, Almirol was working the night shift. He was delivering three pizzas, two side orders, and two liters of soda pop to South Shasta Street. He called…