People v. Lara CA4/2

I. INTRODUCTION

In an information filed in March 2016, defendant and appellant David DeLeon

Lara was charged with the murder of John Doe in 2011. (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a);

count 1.) Defendant was only 16 years old at the time of the murder. It was further

alleged that defendant personally discharged a firearm in the commission of the murder

(§ 12022.53, subds. (d), (e)), and intentionally killed John Doe under the special

circumstance of lying in wait 2 (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(15)). Defendant was tried as an adult.

In February 2019, a jury convicted defendant of first degree premeditated murder (§ 189,

subd. (a)) and found the firearm and special circumstance allegations true.

Before the jury was empaneled, defendant waived his right to a jury trial on a gang

allegation on the murder charge, and the court bifurcated the gang allegation to be heard

at a later bench trial. After the jury returned its guilty verdict on the murder charge and

found the firearm and special circumstance allegations true, defendant admitted the gang

allegation as part of his guilty plea in another criminal case. (Riverside Super. Ct.,

No. RIF1704088.) Before sentencing, defendant moved to…