People v. Parker CA2/8

STATEMENT OF FACTS

The shooting in this case occurred late in the evening of August 27, 2007, in Los Angeles. Around 9:30 p.m., Los Angeles Police Officer Edgar Ramos ran a warrant check on a blue 1990’s Chevrolet Tahoe he passed while driving eastbound on 57th Street near Gramercy Place. August was the driver and registered owner of the vehicle. About 10:00 p.m., Kia Nichols was outside on Gramercy Place near 57th Street with her cousins Destiny Williams and Dornice Washington, and victim Rankin. Nichols, Williams, and Rankin all grew up on the same block. As they stood outside talking, Nichols noticed a blue Tahoe pass by three times. Each time, it traveled northbound on Gramercy Place and turned westbound onto 57th Street. She saw the driver each time, and at trial she identified him as August. She also saw someone in the backseat.

Undesignated statutory citations are to the Penal Code unless otherwise noted.

2 After the third time the vehicle passed, Nichols saw a tall, thin African-American man approaching her and her friends on Gramercy Place from 57th Street, the direction she had last seen the Tahoe turn. She got a good look at him from one or two feet away and…