P. v. Machuca
A jury found defendant guilty as charged of the first degree murder of 20-year-old Ivan Zea Camacho and found he personally used a knife in the commission of the murder. (Pen. Code, 187, subd. (a), 12022, subd. (b)(1).) Defendant was sentenced to 26 years to life, consisting of 25 years to life for the murder plus one year for the knife enhancement.
Defendant appeals. He first claims his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance in three essential respects, specifically, (1) in failing to move to suppress his in custody statements to investigators after he invoked his right to remain silent, (2) in failing to object to gang references during the trial, though the case did not involve any gang crime charges or enhancement allegations, and (3) in failing to object to a plethora of other inadmissible and prejudicial evidence. Second, defendant claims there is insufficient evidence to support the jurys finding that the murder was in the first degree based on a premeditation theory. Court find each of these claims without merit and affirm the judgment.
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