P. v. Sanchez
Appellant/defendant Gilberto Diaz Sanchez was convicted of three counts of second degree murder, one count of attempted second degree murder, and four counts of kidnapping, based on an incident where he held four men at gunpoint in a house, repeatedly threatened to kill them, and forced them into a vehicle. He followed the vehicle as his accomplice, Gabino Luis Basurto (Basurto), drove the four men into the field and fatally shot three of them—Rafael Moreno Espinoza (Rafael); his brother, Eraclio Moreno Espinoza (Eraclio); and Juan Zepeda Valencia (Juan), also known as Carlos Albert Figueroa. The fourth man, Cuahutemoc Valencia (Valencia), ran away as the other men were murdered and survived the harrowing incident.[1]
On appeal, defendant contends that his convictions as an aider and abettor of murder and attempted murder are not supported by substantial evidence, based on his pretrial statements and trial testimony that he did not know Basurto was going to kill the victims. He also challenges the evidence in support of two of the four kidnapping convictions. Finally, he contends the jury improperly received the flight instruction. We will affirm.[2]
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