People v. Morales CA2/3

BACKGROUND

I. Evidence from Morales’s criminal trial

Morales, Ubaldo Cervantes, Jose Martinez, and Juan Naranjo were jointly tried for the murder of Joey Valentino and the attempted murder of Gustavo Alvarado.2 We take some of the background from the Court of Appeal opinion affirming the judgments of conviction against Morales and Cervantes, People v. Cervantes (2004) 118 Cal.App.4th 162.

All further undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. The trial had two juries, one for Martinez and a second for Morales, Cervantes, and Naranjo.

2 “On January 2, 1999, at approximately 2:30 a.m., Schundra Estrada heard a car engine outside her residence on Loosmore Street in the Cypress Park area of Los Angeles. Estrada then heard footsteps of more than one person leaving the car, followed by approximately eight gunshots from around the corner on Pleasant View Avenue. Estrada next heard footsteps running to the car, car doors closing and more than one voice saying, ‘go, go, go, go.’ Estrada looked outside and saw a white Honda leave the scene. . . . “Police officers found Joey Valentino lying in a pool of blood on Pleasant View Avenue. Gustavo Alvarado was a few…