Silas

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL

BACKGROUND

In October 2012, 24-year-old Zinn and his girlfriend, 21-year-old Dow, were shot to death in an unincorporated area of Contra Costa County between Pittsburg and Antioch. Evidence was presented at trial that Silas and Whitley, brothers and members of a San Francisco street gang, suspected Zinn, a fellow gang member, had stolen guns from them. Shortly before the murders, the brothers attacked Zinn outside his and Dow’s apartment building, where Whitley and Chaney—Whitley’s girlfriend—also lived. Zinn and Dow ran away, and Silas and Whitley pursued them in two separate cars, one of which was driven by Michaels, the brothers’ cousin. A few minutes later, both victims were shot to death on the side of the road. The

2 Defendants raise numerous other claims, both jointly and individually, which we do not address in light of our disposition. Some of these claims involve pretrial rulings, such as the denial of Chaney’s motion to sever her trial from that of her codefendants, that arguably are not rendered moot by our determination that defendants are entitled to a new trial. Our decision not to address such claims is without prejudice to defendants’…