P. v. Gonzales
Filed 1/6/11 P. v. Gonzales CA4/1
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION ONE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
| THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. MICHAEL RENE GONZALES, Defendant and Appellant. | D055593 (Super. Ct. No. SCD214027) |
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Melinda J. Lasater, Judge. Affirmed.
I
INTRODUCTION
Defendant Michael Rene Gonzales appeals from a judgment of conviction after a jury convicted him of first degree murder. According to Gonzales, the murder was senseless and random. He contends that there is insufficient evidence to support the jury's finding that the killing was done deliberately and with premeditation, and requests that this court reduce his conviction to second degree murder.
We conclude that there is substantial evidence to support the jury's determination that Gonzales is guilty of first degree murder. We therefore affirm the judgment.
II
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
A. Factual background
Between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on May 30, 2008, Kory Sparks and Raymundo Lopez brought a load of used carpet padding to the Pad Connection, which is located on Commercial Street in San Diego. The Pad Connection is in the business of recycling carpet padding. Sparks regularly sold padding to the Pad Connection.
Earlier that day, Gonzales had called the Pad Connection and told employee Quyen Nguyen that he would be bringing in a load of carpet padding later that morning. Gonzales had previously sold carpet padding to the Pad Connection on four to six occasions.
When Gonzales arrived at the Pad Connection with his load, Nguyen was working with Sparks and Lopez. Nguyen was operating a forklift. Because Gonzales parked his truck in a location that made it difficult for Nguyen to collect the padding that Sparks and Lopez had brought, Nguyen asked Gonzales to move his truck. Gonzales did not say anything, and did what Nguyen had requested. Nguyen resumed weighing the padding that Sparks had brought in.
As Nguyen was weighing Sparks's material, Gonzales walked up behind Sparks, lifted something in his right hand, and struck Sparks in the shoulder and neck area three or four times. Sparks fell to the ground, and Gonzales began walking toward the street. Nguyen initially thought that Sparks had been knocked unconscious, but then he saw blood and noticed that Gonzales was holding a knife.
Angel Rodriguez, who had seen Gonzales enter the warehouse and approach Sparks, went to check on Sparks, as did Lopez. Lopez saw blood coming from behind Sparks's head. Rodriguez and Lopez saw Gonzales standing near the door to the warehouse. Lopez spoke to Gonzales in Spanish, telling him to "calm down," but Gonzales told Lopez to move aside. Lopez could see that Gonzales had a knife, so Lopez backed away. Gonzales approached Sparks as he lay on the ground and began stabbing him in the chest and stomach. Rodriguez and Lopez both ran away.
Several people ran to a police station that was across the street from the Pad Connection and yelled out that someone had been stabbed. The witnesses pointed out Gonzales as the person who had done the stabbing. Gonzales was in his truck, which was stopped at a red light at a nearby intersection.
Officer Cesar Castro, who was on foot, walked into the street and made eye contact with Gonzales. Castro motioned for Gonzales to pull over to the side of the road, which Gonzales did. Gonzales was sweaty and excited, and appeared to be out of breath.
When Officer Castro approached Gonzales, Gonzales began making unsolicited comments to Officer Castro, such as "[Y]ou know, I'm here on my own. How would you feel if you were the victim all the time[]" Gonzales also said things like, "[E]verybody is against me, . . . [¶] . . . [¶] . . . "Nobody cares for me, and everyone takes advantage of me," and asked Castro, "What would you do" Gonzales was eventually arrested.
A few days later, police crime scene specialists searched Gonzales's truck and trailer. They found a knife sheath with a "Jeep" logo on it in the center console of the truck, and found a knife with a "Jeep" logo in the trailer, on top of some carpet padding. The knife appeared to be a hunting or sporting knife, and had a four-and-three-quarters inch long blade. The knife had bloodstains on it. The blood was tested and was determined to match Sparks's DNA.
An autopsy was performed on Sparks's body. Sparks had suffered a wound to his neck, and several wounds on the left side of his chest. The neck wound, which was approximately five inches deep, went from the back right side of Sparks's neck to the left front of his body. Sparks's spinal cord had been transected between the fourth and fifth cervical vertebra, which would cause paralysis to all parts of his body below the fifth vertebra. There were 10 other stab wounds on Sparks's chest, all of which were life threatening wounds. The coroner concluded that Sparks died from multiple stab wounds to his neck and chest. Sparks did not die immediately from the wound to his neck; blood was discovered in his chest cavity, which indicated that Sparks's heart was beating at the time he received the additional wounds to his chest.
B. Procedural background
The San Diego County District Attorney charged Gonzales with murder (Pen. Code, § 187), and alleged that the murder was committed with the use of a knife (§§ 12022, subd. (b)(1), 1192.7, subd. (c)(23)).
A jury convicted Gonzales of first degree murder, and found true the allegation that Gonzales used a knife in the commission of the murder. In a separate trial, the jury found that Gonzales was legally sane at the time he committed the murder.
The trial court sentenced Gonzales to prison for an indeterminate term of 25 years to life, plus an additional one-year term for the knife enhancement.
Gonzales filed a timely notice of appeal.
III
DISCUSSION
Gonzalez claims that there is insufficient evidence to support the jury's determination that the murder was premeditated and deliberate.
A. Standard of review
In determining the sufficiency of the evidence to support a conviction, "the relevant question is whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt." (Jackson v. Virginia (1979) 443 U.S. 307, 319.) "[T]he court must review the whole record in the light most favorable to the judgment below to determine whether it discloses substantial evidence―that is, evidence which is reasonable, credible, and of solid value―such that a reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt." (People v. Johnson (1980) 26 Cal.3d 557, 578.) Evidence of premeditation need not be overwhelming and " 'we need not be convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant premeditated the murder[ ]. The relevant inquiry on appeal is whether " 'any rational trier of fact' " could have been so persuaded.' [Citations.]" (People v. Wharton (1991) 53 Cal.3d 522, 546.)
B. Relevant law
Penal Code section 189 provides in relevant part, "All murder which is perpetrated by means of . . . willful, deliberate, and premeditated killing . . . is murder of the first degree."
"In this context, 'premeditated' means 'considered beforehand,' and 'deliberate' means 'formed or arrived at or determined upon as a result of careful thought and weighing of considerations for and against the proposed course of action.' [Citations.] The process of premeditation and deliberation does not require any extended period of time. 'The true test is not the duration of time as much as it is the extent of the reflection. Thoughts may follow each other with great rapidity and cold, calculated judgment may be arrived at quickly. . . .' [Citations.]" (People v. Mayfield (1997) 14 Cal.4th 668, 767.)
In People v. Anderson (1968) 70 Cal.2d 15, the Supreme Court " 'identified three categories of evidence relevant to resolving the issue of premeditation and deliberation: planning activity, motive, and manner of killing. However, . . . "Anderson does not require that these factors be present in some special combination or that they be accorded a particular weight, nor is the list exhaustive. Anderson was simply intended to guide an appellate court's assessment whether the evidence supports an inference that the killing occurred as the result of preexisting reflection rather than unconsidered or rash impulse. [Citation.]" ' [Citation.]" (People v. Steele (2002) 27 Cal.4th 1230, 1249.)
C. There is sufficient evidence that Gonzales murdered Sparks in a
premeditated and deliberate fashion
The totality of the evidence is sufficient to support the jury's verdict. The evidence shows that Gonzales walked away from Sparks after initially stabbing him from behind. After Sparks had fallen to the ground and Gonzales had walked away for a brief moment, Gonzales returned and proceeded to stab Sparks in the chest an additional 10 times. Lopez attempted to stop Gonzales from engaging in this second round of violence, telling Gonzales to "calm down," but Gonzales told Lopez to move away and proceeded to stab Sparks in the chest. This evidence indicates that Gonzales wanted to make certain that Sparks died. (See People v. Brady (2010) 50 Cal.4th 547, 564 [substantial evidence of premeditation and deliberation where evidence showed that defendant not only shot at an officer from a car, but got out of the car and shot the officer in the back and then stood over the officer and shot a third time]; see also People v. Horning (2004) 34 Cal.4th 871, 902–903 ["The manner of killing, a single bullet from close range into the brain of a bound and blindfolded—and hence, so the jury could reasonably infer, unresisting—victim, shows a calculated design to ensure death rather than an unconsidered explosion of violence."].)
Further, the evidence demonstrates that Gonzales retrieved the knife from his truck before he entered the warehouse. The jury could have reasonably inferred that the reason Gonzales took the knife—but not its sheath—into the warehouse that day was because he was planning to commit an act of violence using the knife. Gonzalez's spontaneous statements to Officer Castro also provided indirect evidence from which the jury could have reasonably deduced that Gonzalez was motivated to kill Sparks out of anger and frustration, and his feeling that "everybody" was "against" him.
Based on the evidence, a rational trier of fact could have concluded that Gonzales rapidly and coldly formed the idea to kill Sparks during the course of events at the Pad Connection that morning, and that he therefore acted after a period of reflection, rather than on an unconsidered or rash impulse.
IV
DISPOSITION
The judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
AARON, J.
WE CONCUR:
NARES, Acting P. J.
McINTYRE, J.
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