People v. Brown CA3

I. BACKGROUND

The relevant facts are taken from our unpublished opinion in Brown, supra, C054015. Defendant drove the car in a drive-by gang shooting, with front passenger Matthew Vallejo as the “shot caller,” and rear passenger Greg Dorsey as the shooter. Two teenage boys saw a blue car drive through an apartment complex multiple times. The first time, a passenger yelled at the Sureños at the complex and flashed gang signs. The second time, the car drove through the complex again, with multiple people in it. The third time, the car pulled up to an SUV in the complex, and one of the teenage boys heard gunshots. The car then sped off. Mario Vasquez was found shot dead in the front seat of the SUV with two gunshot wounds. The jury was instructed with CALCRIM No. 735 that to find the special circumstance true that defendant committed murder by shooting a firearm from a motor vehicle, it had to find that at the time of the shooting, the defendant intended to kill.3 The

Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 3 CALCRIM No. 735 as given provides: “The defendant is charged with the special circumstance of committing murder by shooting a firearm from a motor…