P. v. York
Kenneth Paul York was convicted of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187),[1] attempted residential robbery (§§ 211, 211.5, subd. (a), 664), residential burglary (§§ 459, 460, subd. (a)), and assault with a firearm. (§ 245, subd. (a)(2).) The jury also found true the special circumstances alleged in the information that the murder was committed while York was engaged in the commission or attempted commission of the crimes of burglary and robbery. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(A), (G).)
York seeks reversal of his conviction, arguing that the trial court improperly permitted the jury to hear evidence of prior home invasions York had allegedly committed and that the prosecutor engaged in misconduct by eliciting this evidence and referring to it in his closing argument. York also contends that various jury instructions on conspirator liability were legally erroneous. We find none of York’s contentions persuasive. We therefore affirm the judgment.
Factual and Procedural Background
On May 10, 2004, at approximately 1:10 a.m., officers from the Pleasant Hill Police Department responded to a report of a shooting at an apartment on Golf Club Road. When they arrived at the apartment, the police found Michael Fidler on the ground in the entryway. Fidler was suffering from a gunshot wound and was either dead or mortally wounded. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.
The officers entered a bedroom behind Fidler’s body and found a pistol-grip shotgun, marijuana scales, bundles of cash, a marijuana cigarette, and baggies of loose marijuana in plain sight. After obtaining a warrant, the officers searched the bedroom closet and found between six and seven pounds of marijuana and over $8,000 in cash.
James Connelly was Fidler’s roommate. He testified Fidler sold large quantities of marijuana out of the apartment and kept thousands of dollars in cash in his home. To protect himself, Fidler bought weapons, including a pistol-grip pump shotgun he kept under his bed. Fidler also studied martial arts.
On the night of May 9, 2004, Connelly was in bed with his girlfriend in the apartment he shared with Fidler. Shortly after Connelly went to sleep, someone pushed his bedroom door open. A black man with a bandana mask pointed a gun at Connelly, ordered him out of bed, and demanded that Connelly “[s]how [him] the shit.†The man put the gun—a small chrome revolver—on the back of Connelly’s neck as the latter walked to Fidler’s room. Connelly entered Fidler’s room where Fidler was asleep in bed.
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