P. v. Lopez
Appellant Jose Enrique Lopez, Michelle Molina, Rodger Alley, and Elbert Vargas (collectively, the defendants) were charged with the murder (Pen. Code,[1] § 187; count 1), rape (§ 261, subd. (a)(1); count 2), attempted rape (§§ 664, 261, subd. (a)(1); count 3), and false imprisonment (§ 236, subd. (b); count 4) of Courtney Rice. Following a joint jury trial, appellant was the only defendant to be convicted of first degree murder; Molina was convicted of the lesser offense of involuntary manslaughter, and the jury deadlocked on the murder count as to Alley and Vargas. The jury further found appellant not guilty of rape but guilty of attempted rape and false imprisonment. In addition, the jury found a number of special circumstance and sentence enhancement allegations to be true, including that appellant intentionally killed Rice while he was an active participant in a criminal street gang (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(22)), and that all the offenses were committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)). Appellant was sentenced, inter alia, to a prison term of life without the possibility of parole. On appeal, appellant contends: (1) the trial court abused its discretion in denying his posttrial motion for disclosure of confidential juror identifying information;[2] (2) the jury instructions were so confusing they violated his due process and fair trial rights; and (3) insufficient evidence supports the gang enhancements and special circumstance. Court disagree with appellant's contentions and affirm the judgment.
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