People v. Peraza CA3

BACKGROUND

A Murder convictions A summary of the relevant facts and procedural background are taken from our prior appellate opinion. (People v. Peraza (Feb. 4, 2005, C037039) [nonpub. portion].)2 Early one morning, after going to Ronny Giminez’s apartment and shooting at him, defendant and his codefendant Elisio Valdez went to Andrea Mestas’s apartment and asked to use the telephone, but Mestas said, “No, Elisio, no.” Valdez then shot Mestas twice in the chest at close range, killing her. Mestas was pregnant with a 16-to- 17-week-old fetus, which also died as a result of Mestas’s death. Valdez and defendant then returned to Giminez’s apartment and fired several gunshots into the apartment as they drove by. Approximately an hour and a half later, defendant went to his girlfriend N.D.’s apartment, forced his way in, and held her and her children hostage at gunpoint.

On the court’s own motion, we take judicial notice of our opinion in case No. C037039. (Evid. Code, §§ 452, subd. (d), 459, subd. (a).)

2 The prosecutor argued that defendant and Valdez had gone to Mestas’s apartment to kill her boyfriend, D.O., on orders from their gang. The prosecutor also presented…