People v. Salazar CA2/4

BACKGROUND

Around 3:49 a.m. on June 17, 2007, in the parking lot of a strip mall at the corner of Vernon and Wall in Los Angeles, defendant and an accomplice, Enrique Reyes, carjacked Renee Aguilar of his Daewoo automobile. Aguilar was killed when, after the carjackers entered the vehicle, the car knocked him down and drove over him, inflicting fatal blunt force trauma injuries. Not until 2010 was defendant identified as a suspect. He was located in Baltimore, Maryland, and transported back to Los Angeles to be charged. A surveillance video from a laundromat at the strip mall where the killing occurred captured the crime. The video, which was not of sufficient quality to identify the participants, was played for the jury, and still photographs taken from

1 All section references are to the Penal Code.

2 the video were introduced into evidence. As narrated by Los Angeles Police Detective Miguel Terrezas, the video showed two unidentified men approach Aguilar’s vehicle and loiter nearby. A few seconds later, a person (later identified as Aguilar) exited the vehicle, and appeared to struggle with one of the men. Aguilar moved to the side of the front passenger door of the vehicle,…