People v. Smith CA2/5

I. BACKGROUND

At approximately 2:30 p.m. on November 17, 1988, Gossom was shot in the parking lot of a supper club in Los Angeles. Two weeks later, defendant was arrested and charged with the murder (§ 187) and robbery (§ 211) of Gossom. In connection with each offense, defendant was alleged to have personally used a firearm (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)).

A. Defendant’s Trial and Direct Appeal2 According to the evidence at trial, on the afternoon of the shooting, sometime between 1:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., Gossom

1 Undesignated statutory references that follow are to the Penal Code. 2 At the Attorney General’s unopposed request, we take judicial notice of the following documents from defendant’s trial: excerpts from the trial transcript, the instructions given to the jury, instructions proposed by the prosecution but rejected by the trial court, and the verdict forms.

2 drove to the City of San Fernando and sold his Nissan 200 SX automobile to the owner of a brake shop for $1,500 in cash. Both before and after the sale of the automobile, the shop’s owner saw Gossom chatting with defendant. The last time the owner saw the two men, they were standing near a brown station wagon.…