People v. Garcia CA2/1

BACKGROUND

Our opinion in Garcia’s direct appeal details that after a short interaction with Velasquez, Garcia and his codefendant formulated a plan to kill Velasquez and then carried it out. “The two planned that [Garcia’s codefendant, Jimmy] Perez[,] would tell Velasquez that they would share some heroin with him if he could supply a syringe. They would then stop at Perez’s [house] to get a knife under the guise of obtaining a spoon. [Garcia] already had a knife. “They found Velasquez at a bar and proceeded with their plan. Velasquez obtained a syringe and, after stopping off at Perez’s house for the knife and spoon, the three drove to the Pico Rivera Golf Course in [Garcia’s car] and walked to a river bed

Further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 near the golf course. Perez had hidden a cup of water at the end of a dirt path and he turned his back and pulled out his knife as he drew some of the water into the syringe. When Perez turned around, [Garcia] had already started to stab Velasquez. Velasquez grabbed onto Perez and the two fell off the embankment. As Velasquez stood up, [Garcia] grabbed him from behind and told Perez to stab Velasquez or else share…