People v. Gonzalez CA5

INTRODUCTION

Appellants/defendants Luis Miguel Gonzalez (Gonzalez) and Eric Castilleja (Castilleja) were charged and convicted of multiple felonies based on their activities when they drove around Bakersfield and committed a series of robberies. One of the victims obtained the license plate number of defendants’ truck. Shortly after defendants were arrested, several of the victims identified one or both of them during infield showups. In this joint appeal, Castilleja, joined by Gonzalez, contend the trial court violated their constitutional rights to due process and a fair trial when it decided to discharge a juror for alleged misconduct in the midst of deliberations. Castilleja separately contends that his defense attorney was prejudicially ineffective for failing to file a motion for the court to dismiss one of his prior strike convictions because both strikes arose from the same case. Gonzalez separately contends the court imposed an unauthorized sentence for one of the counts. In part I, we will review the facts of the offenses. In part II, we will address the procedural history which led to the court’s decision to remove the juror during deliberations. We affirm the…