People v. Silva CA2/4

BACKGROUND

Prosecution Evidence Appellant, a 204th Street gang member, was convicted as an aider and abettor in the murder of Christopher Ash. Ash was a 204th Street gang member who was killed because fellow gang members believed he was a “snitch” regarding the murder of 14-year-old Cheryl Green, committed by 204th Street gang member Jonathan Fajardo. According to Jose Covarrubias, an accomplice in Ash’s killing and the key prosecution witness at trial (as well as the boyfriend of Ash’s sister), Ash was murdered in the garage of appellant’s house. Like Covarrubias, the participants in the murder were all 204th Street gang members, including appellant, Fajardo, Robert Gonzales, and Carlos Pimentel. Because the only issue on appeal is the sufficiency of the evidence to corroborate Covarrubias’ testimony, our summary of the evidence focuses primarily on his testimony. We save for our Discussion section a description of much of the corroborating evidence.

1 All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 The Green murder about which Ash was purportedly informing occurred on December 15, 2006. Members of the 204th Street gang, including Ash, were later questioned by Los…