P. v. Khek
A jury convicted defendants Kosal Kim Khek and Christopher Lee of first degree murder and found true criminal-street-gang allegations and, as to Khek, a personal-use-of-deadly-weapon allegation, for purposes of sentence enhancements.[1] The trial court sentenced Khek to 26 years to life and Lee to 32 years to life. On appeal, defendants contend that (1) the trial court erred by denying their motions to suppress evidence seized from their homes without a warrant, (2) the trial court abused its discretion by admitting a gruesome photograph of the murder victim, (3) the trial court abused its discretion by excluding from evidence Robert DeJong’s police statements to the effect that the perpetrators intended only to hurt or injure the victim,[2] (4) the trial court erred by denying their motions for mistrial grounded on jury misconduct, and (5) the abstract of judgment erroneously fails to denote that the imposed restitution fines are joint and several. Khek additionally contends that the trial court erred by admitting into evidence DeJong’s police statements to the effect that DeJong drove to the murder scene. Lee additionally contends that the trial court erred by (1) instructing the jury in the language of CALCRIM No. 400 (aider and abettor is equally guilty with perpetrator), and (2) failing to instruct the jury sua sponte on the lesser included offenses of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. We agree that Khek’s abstract does not conform to the judgment. But we otherwise disagree with defendants. We therefore affirm the judgment and modify Khek’s abstract to conform to the judgment.
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