P. v. Quintana
Along with two codefendants, appellant Luis Bernardo Quintana was charged with one count of murder after Julio Cesar Olivares was fatally shot while standing on the porch outside his house. Although appellant was present at the shooting, there was no evidence he was the shooter, so the prosecutor tried the case on the theories he was liable either as an aider and abettor to Olivares’s murder or engaged in a conspiracy to assault Olivares, the natural and probable consequence of which was Olivares’s murder. A jury found appellant guilty of the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter and found true an allegation that a principal was armed with a firearm.
Appellant challenges his conviction on several grounds: (1) the trial court erred in instructing the jury on aider and abettor liability; (2) the trial court should have instructed sua sponte on the lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter; and (3) the trial court erred in allowing an amendment to the information after the jury reached its verdict and had been discharged. We reject these contentions and affirm appellant’s conviction. There are, however, clerical errors in the verdict form, minutes of the sentencing hearing, and abstract of judgment, so we will direct the trial court to correct them.
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