Stevenson

BACKGROUND

The California Court of Appeal summarized the evidence presented at trial as follows:

On October 1, 2011, Erica Brown, Shanice Keil, Laneasha Northington, Ikaneasha Johnson, Joshua Alford, Anthony Ewing, and Ryan Gibbs attended a party in San Leandro. Alford was a member of the F.E. (“Fuck Everybody”) group, which was described by witnesses as a “social group” of individuals who make raps on YouTube.

Defendants also attended the party with a group of their friends. . .

When the party ended around midnight, the seven victims got into a Ford Explorer and prepared to leave the parking lot. As they tried to back out of their parking spot, a white sedan pulled behind the Explorer and blocked its path. Within a minute, multiple gunshots were fired into the car.

Brown testified that gunshots were coming from the front and the back of the car, sounding “like they were coming from around the whole car.” She heard “different sounds coming from two different directions” and the sounds of glass breaking and metal hitting metal. The gunfire lasted for about a minute.

Six of the seven victims were shot during the attack. Keil, Northington and Alford died as a result of…