People v. Harper CA3

BACKGROUND

The evidence the trial court considered at the January 23, 2023, evidentiary hearing consisted of the preliminary hearing transcripts and the transcript of defendant’s interview by a police officer, which the officer largely recapitulated in his testimony at the preliminary hearing. Viewed in the light most favorable to the trial court’s decision, the transcripts establish that on the night of January 10, 1995, William Johnson and Tyrone Harris approached defendant in the parking lot of an apartment complex, gave him some rock cocaine, and asked him if he wanted to be involved in a robbery of Gregory’s Private Social Club, known as the “Gambling Shack.” Defendant smoked between an “eight ball” and a half-ounce of rock cocaine daily. At this level of consumption, defendant could function normally and think clearly. Defendant knew Johnson and Harris as drug dealers. He also knew that Johnson and Harris were members of the Broadway Crips street gang. Defendant himself had been a member of a Bloods street gang since he was 15 years old. Defendant met Harris in prison. The plan Johnson and Harris proposed was for a group of men to arm themselves and rob the patrons of the…