P. v. Amaya
A jury found defendant and appellant Tomas Amaya (Amaya) guilty of first degree murder and defendant and appellant Aldo Arevalo (Arevalo) guilty of second degree murder and assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury. On appeal, Arevalo raises several challenges to his judgment of conviction, including claims of insufficient evidence, multiple instructional errors, ineffective assistance of counsel, cumulative error, and cruel and unusual punishment. In addition, Amaya, joined by Arevalo, contends that punishment on both the murder count and the weapons enhancement violated California’s multiple conviction rule and federal double jeopardy principles.
We hold that there was sufficient evidence supporting the guilty verdicts on both counts against Arevalo, his claims of instructional error are either unfounded or have been forfeited, and his other contentions are without merit. As for the punishment on both the murder count and the weapons enhancement, we hold that such punishment did not violate the multiple conviction rule and that double jeopardy rules do not apply to multiple punishment within a single case. We therefore affirm the judgments of conviction.
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