People v. Quinteros CA4/1

INTRODUCTION

This case arose out of crimes committed by a group of inmates─some of whom

were members of the Mexican Mafia prison gang─against a fellow inmate in a prison

yard. In an amended information, Lionel Alvidrez Quinteros and two

codefendants1─Alberto Macias and Geronimo Polina2─were charged with three felony

offenses: (1) conspiracy to commit murder (count 1: Pen. Code,3 §§ 182, subd. (a)(1));

(2) attempted murder (count 2: §§187, subd. (a), 664); and (3) assault with a deadly

weapon by a prisoner (count 4: § 4501). As pertinent here, the amended information

also alleged that Quinteros committed each crime for the benefit of, at the direction of, or

in association with a criminal street gang within the meaning of 186.22, subdivision

(b)(1); and that he had suffered four prior strike convictions within the meaning of the

Three Strikes law (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12, 668).

During the jury trial─after Quinteros, Macias, and Polina rested and while the

prosecution was presenting the testimony of a rebuttal witness─Macias pulled out a

concealed razor blade and slashed his attorney on the cheek in the presence of the jury.

The court individually questioned…