People v. Washington

1

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JUSTIN WASHINGTON, Defendant and Appellant.

B330275

California Court of Appeals, Second District, Second Division

October 22, 2024

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. No. TA157897 Michelle M. Ahnn and John J. Lonergan, Jr. Judges. Affirmed.

John Steinberg, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, Noah P. Hill and Thomas C. Hsieh, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

ASHMANN-GERST J.

In an information filed by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, defendant and appellant Justin Washington was charged with first degree willful, deliberate and premeditated murder. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd (a), 189.)^[1] It was further alleged that defendant personally used a firearm (§ 12022.5, subd. (a)) and had incurred two prior serious or violent felony "strike" convictions (§§ 667, subd. (d), 1170.12, subd. (b)).

Defendant's initial trial resulted in a mistrial because the jury deadlocked. Following retrial, the jury found defendant guilty as charged and found the firearm allegation true. In a bifurcated proceeding, the trial court found the two prior strike allegations true. Defendant was sentenced to a term of 75 years to life plus three years in state prison.

Defendant timely filed a notice of appeal.

We affirm.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

I. Prosecution evidence

A. The November 4, 2020, murder

On November 4, 2020, at about 5:40 p.m., Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers, including Officer John Byun, drove to a location near Figueroa Street and 109th Street in Los Angeles in response to a 911 call reporting a shooting. Bystanders directed Officer Byun to the victim, Bryan Castle (Castle), who was lying facedown on the sidewalk and had several gunshot wounds. Castle died as a result of the gunshot wounds.

Police recovered a fired bullet and two nine-millimeter "GFL" brand Luger bullet casings from the crime scene.

B. Video of the murder

Officers obtained surveillance video of the shooting. The video was played at trial.

The video showed Castle walking through an auto mechanic's shop to the intersection of 109th and Figueroa. A white sedan with a moonroof stopped near Castle. Someone was sitting in the front passenger seat. A person later identified as defendant exited the rear passenger side, walked around to the driver's side, and faced Castle. Defendant wore a dark sweater with a white stripe on the sleeve. Defendant walked back to the passenger side of the vehicle, turned and faced Castle, and fired a weapon. Castle made his way back to the sidewalk and collapsed.

C. Video of the day prior to the murder (Nov. 3, 2020)

On November 12, 2020, LAPD Detectives Issac Fernandez and Peter McCoy went to an auto body shop near the crime scene to download surveillance video showing events that occurred on November 3, 2020, the day before the shooting. The police had received information that the suspected shooter may have been at the crime scene on that date.

The video showed a white Mercedes pull into the auto shop. A Hispanic woman later identified as Daisy Serrano (Serrano) exited the front passenger seat. A Black man later identified as defendant exited the rear passenger seat. Defendant, who has numerous tattoos, wore a white T-shirt with a Nike "Just do it" logo and a black LA Dodgers hat. The driver stayed in the Mercedes. Defendant and Serrano walked into the business that Castle worked for and then returned to the car.

Detective Francisco (Frank) Zaragoza recognized the woman on the video as Serrano. He was familiar with her from an unrelated investigation he handled in September 2020.

Detective Zaragoza obtained information from Serrano's social media accounts.

From the car's license plate, the police determined the Mercedes was registered to Rudy Bracamontes (Bracamontes), Serrano's brother.

D. November 24, 2020, arrest of Serrano, who had the murder weapon

On November 24, 2020, around 2:00 a.m., Los Angeles County deputy sheriffs contacted a vehicle at a parking lot near El Segundo Boulevard and Figueroa, about a mile and a half from the scene of Castle's murder. Serrano was the front seat passenger. The deputies recovered an operable firearm from the floorboard behind the driver's seat. They also recovered a magazine for the firearm, which was loaded with bullets. Serrano was arrested for possession of the firearm.^[2] She provided her telephone number when she was booked.

Testing later established that Serrano's gun was used in Castle's murder.

E. December 5, 2020, arrest of defendant and searches of his home^[3]

On December 5, 2020, Torrance police officers saw defendant leave his stepmother's home on 139th Street in Gardena. The police arrested defendant, who was in the front passenger seat of a car. He was wearing a black LA Dodgers baseball hat. The police recovered defendant's cell phone.

Torrance police officers searched the 139th Street address, which included a converted garage with two bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a large living space, as well as a main residence with three bedrooms. Defendant's stepmother, Augusta Washington (Augusta),^[4] directed the police officers to the bedroom in the main residence in which defendant was staying. In that bedroom, the police photographed a black Puma sweater with white stripes.

Defendant's sister, Tiffany Washington (Tiffany), lived in the converted garage with her children. From a bedroom in the converted garage, the police recovered paperwork addressed to defendant that was on top of a dresser. A drawer in that dresser contained five loose bullets and 17 bullets inside of a cloth bag; all of the bullets were nine-millimeter. One of the loose bullets was a "GFL" brand, the same brand as casings recovered from the crime scene and the bullets found in Serrano's gun.

The police also recovered a Smith &Wesson .45 caliber semiautomatic gun from the living room of the converted garage. The gun's magazine contained five .45 caliber bullets.

On March 4, 2021, LAPD officers conducted a second search of defendant's home. They recovered a T-shirt with a Nike "Just do it" logo similar to the shirt that defendant wore the day before the shooting as shown on video. The police also recovered a black Puma sweater with a white stripe on the sleeve, which was similar to what the shooter wore as shown on video.

F. Three recorded jail calls between defendant and Serrano

Defendant, who was in custody, had several calls with Serrano, which were recorded. Based upon what they called each other during the calls, it appeared that they were in a relationship. Along with two other recorded calls, their January 8, 2021, phone call was played at the retrial. Detective Zaragoza heard defendant tell Serrano during that call, "'Remember when I was bustin' and your brother damn near ran me over.'" Detective Zaragoza understood defendant to mean that he was shooting because the phrase "'bustin' caps'" is "street talk of somebody saying shooting."

G. Information recovered from defendant's cell phone

On November 5, 2020, several internet searches were made on defendant's phone regarding a shooting in the area of the 110 Freeway and Figueroa, including "'shooting on 110 and Figueroa Street on October 4th'" and "'man shot to death at Figueroa auto shop on September 4th.'" The earliest search was made on November 5, 2020, at 1:38 a.m.

In late November 2020, defendant exchanged text messages with multiple people in an effort to purchase a gun because he no longer had his.

H. Mapping of locations of defendant, Serrano, and Bracamontes's cell phones

FBI Agent Jeff Bennett (Bennett), the prosecution's cell phone expert, testified that cell phone site analysis showed that defendant's phone was near the crime scene on November 4, 2020, at 5:32 p.m. and stayed in that area for about 20 minutes. Bracamontes's cell phone was near the crime scene between 4:44 p.m. and 4:51 p.m. Serrano's cell phone was in the area of the crime scene from 5:39 p.m. to 5:50 p.m. Both of their phones were near defendant's home minutes after the shooting.

II. Defense evidence

Augusta owned the home on West 139th Street. In November and December 2020, defendant lived in one of the bedrooms inside the main residence. Tiffany and Tiffany's children lived in the back house. The main residence and back house had different keys.

Robert Aguero (Aguero), the defense cell phone expert, disagreed with the prosecution's cell phone expert about the accuracy of AT&T data sessions for cell phone mapping purposes. He opined that using data sessions and cell phone towers to map the location of a phone was not reliable. But, he agreed with the rest of Bennett's testimony.

III. Rebuttal

Among other evidence offered, Bennett rebutted Aguero's testimony.

DISCUSSION

I. Exclusion of evidence relating to an alleged Perkins^[5] operation with Serrano

Defendant argues that the trial court committed at least two errors relating to an alleged Perkins operation with Serrano. According to defendant, the trial court erred by (1) making a preliminary determination that no Perkins operation actually occurred, and then (2) excluding evidence to impeach Detectives Zaragoza and McCoy with their inconsistent testimonies concerning that alleged Perkins operation.

A. Relevant proceedings

1. Detective Zaragoza's testimony at the August 19, 2021, preliminary hearing about a Perkins operation with Serrano and ensuing discovery motion

On August 19, 2021, in Los Angeles County Superior Court case number...