People v. Torres CA3

BACKGROUND

On the night of December 11, 2008, Marco Serrano and his girlfriend, Yesenia Andrade, were seated in Serrano’s car in a Stockton parking lot. Serrano was in the driver’s seat and Andrade was in the front passenger seat. Their friend, Sergio Morales, was in the backseat. They were waiting to meet up with Serrano’s friend Jesse P. A Hispanic man knocked on the driver’s window to ask for a light. The man was wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, and a “rag” (a handkerchief or bandana) partly covering his tattooed face. When Serrano lowered the window, the masked man brandished a gun and forced his way into the seat behind the driver. A second man, who had been standing behind the gunman, entered the front passenger seat, forcing Andrade into the back. Moments later, when Serrano’s friend Jesse walked up to the car, the gunman confronted him. Jesse testified that the gunman, who had a “red rag” over his nose and mouth, took $20 from the pocket of Jesse’s sweatshirt before sending him away. Jesse returned to his brother’s car and they called police. Meanwhile, the gunman told Serrano to drive and demanded that Morales and Andrade turn over their money; they had…