People v. Jackson and Berry CA2/1
Opinion
Opinion
Lui, J.
BACKGROUND
On December 21, 2012,1 Ediberto Genis was fatally shot in the head outside 815 East 113th Street (Stoners house) in Los Angeles. Four juveniles were ultimately arrested and charged with Genis’s murder and conspiracy to murder: Jackson (aged 17), Berry (aged 16), Jason Byers (aged 14), and Shannon Hilt (aged 17). Hilt accepted a prosecution plea offer of eight years in prison. Byers agreed to testify for the prosecution and accepted an offer of 13 years in prison. Byers was the sole percipient witness to the crimes who testified. Byers testified that he lived in Nickerson Gardens. He had known Jackson all of his life and they were friends. Byers met Hilt at Locke High School (Locke) and had a close relationship with both Hilt and Hilt’s sister. Byers knew that both Jackson and Hilt lived in the vicinity of 113th Street and Belhaven Street. Byers only knew Berry from seeing him at Locke. They did not attend the school at the same time, but Byers had visited the Locke campus on occasion while he was in middle school and he had seen Berry on the Locke campus at that time. He did not know that Berry lived in downtown Los Angeles.