P. v. Marten
In trying to minimize her own culpability, defendant Christina Marie Marten pointed to Oscar Cervantes as the devil because, with a grin on his face, he shot and killed her close friend. Crank, not the smiling shooter, is the devil in this ghastly Halloween tale. Defendant was born addicted to it, set up her best friend to be executed because of it, slept with Norteos as well as Sureos to facilitate the sale of it, and was convicted of first degree murder, second degree murder, attempted murder, and a variety of gang and weapon enhancements for her involvement with those who profited from it. In October 2002 crank (methamphetamine) provided the Woodland criminal street gangs with the financial wherewithal to proliferate, recruit, and control the streets with fear and, as this case demonstrates, to be so disconnected from time, empathy, and even loyalty to each other to shoot and kill for a nonexistent debt.
Like Judas Iscariot, defendant confessed to handing over her brother for execution. Her confession was corroborated by gang members who themselves were regular methamphetamine users by the time they turned 13 years old. Because we reject her contention on appeal that her confession was involuntary, and that confession, corroborated by eyewitness testimony, constitutes overwhelming evidence of her guilt, the various evidentiary and instructional errors that may have tainted this trial do not require reversal of the judgment of conviction. Court affirm.
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