People v. Tellez-Flores

1

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JOSE ALFONSO TELLEZ-FLORES, JR., Defendant and Appellant.

C097356

California Court of Appeals, Third District, Yolo

June 14, 2024

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

(Super. Ct. No. CR20212298)

Duarte, Acting P. J.

In the early morning hours of May 6, 2021, step-siblings Brenda Jimenez and Kenneth Robinson, Jr., were shot in the course of a high-speed car chase through a residential neighborhood in West Sacramento. Robinson survived but Jimenez died as a result of her injuries. At trial, the People's primary theory was that defendant Jose Alfonso Tellez-Flores and two others were involved in the shooting, and that defendant was the driver of the vehicle that chased after the victims. A jury found defendant guilty of murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a))^[1] and attempted murder (§§ 21a, 664, subd. (a), 187, subd. (a)) but was unable to reach verdicts on the allegations that the murder and attempted murder were willful, deliberate, and premeditated. The jury was also unable to reach a verdict on two counts of discharging a firearm at an occupied motor vehicle (§ 246) and two counts of assault with a firearm (§ 245, subd. (a)(2)). The trial court declared a mistrial as to those allegations and counts, and the People elected to have the guilty verdicts recorded as second degree murder and attempted second degree murder. After denying defendant's motion for new trial, the court sentenced defendant to an aggregate term of 20 years to life in prison.

Defendant appeals, arguing that reversal is required for various reasons, including insufficient evidence, inconsistent verdicts, evidentiary error, and prosecutorial misconduct. Defendant further argues the trial court erred in denying his motion for new trial based on juror misconduct. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This case involves a car chase and a shooting. Some of the underlying events were captured by surveillance cameras (traffic, residential, school), the footage of which was shown to the jury. Below, we summarize the pertinent facts. Additional information relevant to the contentions raised on appeal is set forth in the Discussion section.

Relevant Pre-Shooting Events

Around 7:30 p.m. on May 5, 2021, defendant, his brother Felipe Tellez-Flores,^[2]and Juan Mejia went to a Mexican restaurant in Sacramento.^[3] They left the restaurant around 1:30 a.m and eventually drove toward West Sacramento.

There was evidence that the three men consumed alcohol at the restaurant, and that defendant was wearing a black t-shirt.

The Car Chase and Shooting

Shortly before 2:00 a.m., a Chevrolet Tahoe drove into oncoming traffic and stopped alongside a Chevrolet Impala at an intersection in West Sacramento. The Impala sped off and a high-speed chase ensued. During the chase, multiple gunshots were fired at the Impala from both sides of the Tahoe.

The chase ended when the driver of the Impala, later identified as Jimenez, lost control of her car while attempting to make a turn and collided into the garage of a residence. The Tahoe came to a stop nearby after it struck a parked car and crashed into a tree. Shortly thereafter, eight gunshots were fired followed by an additional eight gunshots. The second set of gunshots were fired by a person wearing a white t-shirt. Just before these gunshots were fired, a man yelled "Fuck Broderick."^[4]

Following the shooting, three people fled the scene on foot. Two of them were wearing white t-shirts and the other was wearing a dark or black t-shirt.

Police Response and Investigation

Around 2:00 a.m., police officers responded to a report of a traffic collision and multiple gunshots fired near the intersection of 6th Street and Cummins Way in West Sacramento. Upon their arrival at the scene, officers found two vehicles--an Impala and a Tahoe. The Impala had major damage to the front end and had been shot multiple times. Two people were inside the car: Jimenez was in the driver's seat, and a man, later identified as Robinson, was in the front passenger seat. Jimenez, who had been shot four times, was unresponsive and died at the scene. Robinson, who had been shot once, was taken to the hospital and survived. When an officer asked Robinson to identify the person(s) who shot him, he made an obscene gesture at the officer.

The Tahoe was unoccupied. Inside, officers found one nine-millimeter cartridge casing on the front passenger side floorboard, a box of nine-millimeter ammunition on the front driver's side floorboard, and a cell phone belonging to Felipe on the rear driver's side floorboard. A record search revealed that defendant's father (Jose) was the registered owner of the Tahoe.^[5]

The police found numerous nine-millimeter cartridge casings, some of which were scattered along the street (i.e., Cummins Way) and others were near the Impala. The police also found several 10-millimeter cartridge casings near the Impala. The nine-millimeter casings had different firing pin impressions (i.e., shapes), which indicated that they were fired by different guns. Based on the evidence at the scene, the police suspected there were at least three firearms used in the shooting.

An expert in latent fingerprint analysis concluded that defendant's fingerprint was on the Tahoe's interior driver's door handle. A criminalist determined that the Tahoe's steering wheel contained a mixture of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) from four people, with defendant as the predominant contributor. The criminalist also determined that the face mask hanging from the Tahoe's gear shift contained a mixture of DNA from two people, with defendant again as the predominant contributor.

Relevant Post-Shooting Events

Around 2:30 a.m., Jose picked up defendant and Felipe from an apartment complex in West Sacramento;^[6] Jose was driving a silver F-150 truck with a camper shell. Around 3:15 a.m., an officer saw this truck near the crime scene; the officer stopped the truck and told Jose that he needed to turn around and drive the opposite direction.

Although defendant told Jose that the Tahoe had been stolen, Jose never filed a stolen vehicle report. At trial, Jose testified that he drove around West Sacramento looking for the Tahoe after he picked his sons up from the apartment complex.^[7]According to Jose, defendant never told him where to look for the Tahoe or that it had been stolen until later that morning. Jose also claimed that he never asked defendant if he was driving the Tahoe before it was stolen. Thereafter, Jose was shown a portion of his police interview in which he reported that defendant told him the Tahoe was in an accident. Upon questioning, Jose explained that defendant told him the Tahoe "had been stolen in the accident." When Jose was asked why he told the police the Tahoe had been in an accident when he knew it had been stolen, he said, "I imagined that [defendant] had an accident" because defendant "didn't want to tell me anything else."

Two months after the shooting, a 10-millimeter handgun was seized by the police during a traffic stop in Sacramento. A criminalist determined that this gun was one of the guns used in the shooting. This same gun appeared in a video posted on defendant's Snapchat account, but there was no evidence revealing when the video was posted.^[8]

Defendant's Police Interview

Defendant was arrested and interviewed by the police on the same day as the shooting. During that interview, which began at approximately 10:00 p.m., defendant claimed the Tahoe had been stolen the "night prior," and that he had not reported the theft because the Tahoe was uninsured.

DISCUSSION

Defendant raises a number of contentions on appeal, which we address in turn below. As we shall explain, we find no basis for reversal.

I Sufficiency of the Evidence

Defendant was prosecuted for the first degree murder of Jimenez under two principal theories: premeditated and deliberate murder as an aider and abettor and conspiracy to commit first degree murder. Defendant was prosecuted for the attempted murder of Robinson primarily under the theory that he aided and abetted the crime with premeditation and deliberation. The verdict forms did not indicate on which theory the jury agreed in finding defendant guilty of these crimes.

On appeal, defendant argues the evidence presented at trial is insufficient to support his convictions. He concedes the evidence is sufficient to show he was "present in the Tahoe at the time of the shooting," but argues that his mere presence at the scene and subsequent flight therefrom does not constitute substantial evidence to justify his convictions. According to defendant, no rational jury could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that he acted with malice aforethought, was the actual shooter, aided or abetted the actual shooter, or had the specific intent to kill Robinson. In support of this argument, defendant asserts that there is no substantial evidence showing what he was doing in the Tahoe at the time of the shooting, whether he fired a gun, how or why he possessed malice aforethought, or that he specifically wanted Robinson dead. Defendant further asserts that there was no substantial evidence of any express or implied agreement between defendant and anyone else to kill Jimenez or Robinson.

For the reasons set forth below, we reject this claim. Because we conclude the record contains substantial evidence to support defendant's murder and attempted murder convictions under an aiding and abetting theory of liability, we need not and do not address defendant's sufficiency of the evidence contention regarding the alternative conspiracy theory of liability. (People v. Rundle (2008) 43 Cal.4th 76 141 [" 'We need not consider [a sufficiency of the evidence]...