People v. Ordonaz CA3

BACKGROUND

In 1984, defendant pleaded guilty to first degree murder and robbery and was sentenced to an indeterminate 25-year-to-life term, along with a concurrent three-year determinate term. During the plea, the prosecutor provided a factual basis incorporating testimony from the codefendant’s trial, as well as defendant’s admissions to police (acknowledging those statements were arguably in violation of Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384 U.S. 436 [16 L.Ed.2d 694]). The prosecutor stated: “Defendant not only admitted to the police, but to his family members, that he participated in the offense, contended that his crime partner was the gunman and inflicted the fatal shot to the victim, contended to the police that even though he assisted the co-defendant, he did not formulate the intent and the desire that the victim be killed.” The prosecutor added: “Part of the reason . . . for the plea bargain includes the fact of the substantial evidentiary problems regarding the admissibility in evidence against this Defendant, his confession to the police, and the fact that statements from his family members flowed from that confession to the police.” Thirty-five years later, defendant…