People v. Phan CA3

BACKGROUND

In October 2002, a Laotian family held a birthday party for a teenage girl in their Sacramento home. (Pham, supra, C049751, C049992 [p. 3].) Some of the attendees, including victim T.T., were involved in a Laotian street gang. (Ibid.) Defendant and codefendant Pham, who were Vietnamese, attended the party. (Id. [pp. 3-4].) Although there was no evidence defendant was a gang member, Pham associated with a Vietnamese street gang and codefendant Nguyen was a validated member of the same Vietnamese gang. (Ibid.) The two groups faced each other across the driveway at the residence, and the Vietnamese group asked where the Laotian group was from, which in gang parlance was indicative of a challenge to fight. (Pham, supra, C049751, C049992 [p. 4].) After one of the Laotians responded with gang initials, the Vietnamese pulled out their guns and started shooting. (Ibid.) T.T. was shot in the stomach, V.D. was shot in the hip and leg, and Khamphoumy was shot and killed. (Id. [p. 5].)

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 Defendant and Pham were stopped by police as they tried to leave the scene in an SUV. (Pham, supra, C049751, C049992 [p. 5].) Pham had…