People v. Rodriguez CA3

BACKGROUND

For purposes of this appeal, defendant does not dispute that on April 22, 2009, he fired multiple gunshots at an occupied house. Defendant, Richard Cooper, and Dejwonn Hightower were members of the gang North Highland Gangster Crips. These three Crips obtained two pistols and went looking for Blood members. When they saw their targets in a driveway, defendant and Hightower fired several shots towards them, hitting the house.2 The evidence in dispute concerns the gang testimony, which we now describe. Detective Nick Goncalves, a peace officer for 17 years, had experience and training in gang suppression, particularly relating to Black street gangs. The defense did not challenge Goncalves’s expert qualifications. Goncalves had examined defendant’s cell phone, as well as Cooper’s. Both phones utilized North Highlands Gangster Crip screen savers, and defendant’s phone contained several gang-related pictures. The parties stipulated there were numerous calls between these two phones. The Bloods were the dominant Black street gang, associating themselves with the color red, and whose primary rivals were the Crips including “G Mob and their subsets”

2 Both codefendants were…