People v. Rojas CA2/3

BACKGROUND

Rojas, Hodge, Matthew Fernandez, and Rigoberto Haro belonged to the same gang. Gang members hung out at Rojas’s house. The victim, Benjamin Juarez, belonged to a rival gang. On July 15, 2012, Fernandez shot and killed Juarez as Juarez sat in his car. A witness heard the gunshots and saw Fernandez running with Haro to Rojas’s nearby house. Law enforcement found the gun used to kill Juarez in Rojas’s backyard. The four men were arrested and placed in a patrol car, where, during a surreptitiously recorded conversation, Fernandez admitted he was the shooter.

All further undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

Effective June 30, 2022, section 1170.95 was renumbered to section 1172.6, with no change in text. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.)

2 Rojas, Hodge, Fernandez, and Haro were charged with murder.2 At their joint trial, a jury found Fernandez guilty of first degree murder and found true personal gun use allegations. However, the jury deadlocked as to Rojas, Hodge, and Haro. Following the mistrial, Rojas and Hodge pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and admitted personal gun use (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)), and gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)(C))…