People v. Macias 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 (information), Eduardo Alberto Macias (the appellant

in the current appeal) and his two codefendants at trial─Lionel Alvidrez Quinteros and

Geronimo Polina1─were charged with three felony offenses: (1) conspiracy to commit

murder (count 1: Pen. Code,2 §§ 182, subd. (a)(1), 187, subd. (a)); (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 information also alleged that Macias committed

each crime for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal street

gang, within the meaning of section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1); that he personally used a

deadly weapon within the meaning of section 12022, subdivision (b)(l) in committing the

offenses charged in counts 2 and 4; and that he had suffered three prior strike convictions

within the meaning of the Three Strikes law (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12, 668.

During trial before a single jury─after Macias,…