People v. Rosales CA6

I. INTRODUCTION

Around 6:15 p.m. on a Saturday in July 2011, defendant Cesar Rosales committed a drive-by shooting in the parking lot of a Target shopping center, killing Gustavo Diaz Zargoza and wounding Zargoza’s cousin, Esparanza Salazar. Defendant was the passenger in a vehicle driven by fellow gang member Miguel Rodriguez, who testified against defendant at trial. A jury convicted defendant of murder (Pen. Code, § 187; 1 count 1), finding true the special circumstance allegations that the murder was perpetrated by discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle (§190.2, subd. (a)(21)) and that defendant intentionally killed the victim while defendant was an active participant in a criminal street gang and the murder was carried out to further the activities of the criminal street gang (§190.2, subd. (a)(22)); two counts of shooting from a motor vehicle (§ 12034, subd. (c); counts 2 and 4); assault

All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated. with a deadly weapon (§ 245, subd. (a)(1); lesser included offense to count 3); and active participation in a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (a); count 5). The jury also found various…