People v. Mejia CA2/8

Filed 12/30/24 P. v. Mejia CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

THE PEOPLE, B336642

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA318905) v.

JOSUE MANUEL MEJIA,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Charlaine F. Olmedo, Judge. Reversed and remanded with directions. Steven Schorr, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant Attorney General, Noah P. Hill and Steven E. Mercer, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

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Defendant and appellant Josue Manuel Mejia appeals from the denial of his petition for recall and resentencing as a juvenile offender pursuant to Penal Code section 1170, subdivision (d)(1). We reverse and remand for a new hearing on defendant’s petition. BACKGROUND In the early morning hours of October 12, 2005, defendant and four fellow 18th Street gang members (Jesus Lorenzo, Adam Perez, Edwin Caseros and Carlos Hernandez) went to the home of a rival gang member (Leonardo Pulido) with whom codefendant Perez had a long and contentious history. After unsuccessfully trying to get Pulido to come outside, defendant and his accomplices went around to the back of Pulido’s apartment building, repeatedly threw rocks at Pulido’s bedroom window, and then attempted to scale the wall and climb into the apartment through the window. Lorenzo, who was armed and the first to attempt to get into the apartment, climbed part of the way through the bedroom window and was shot and killed by Pulido. Before defendant and his accomplices fled the scene, several shots were fired at Pulido’s apartment. Shell casings found outside the apartment matched the handgun found near defendant upon his arrest a short distance from the scene. It was later determined that Lorenzo’s blood was on the clothes defendant was wearing at the time of his arrest. In 2010, defendant, Perez, Caseros and Hernandez were prosecuted for the first degree murder of Lorenzo on a provocative act theory, the premeditated attempted murder of Pulido, attempted residential burglary and shooting at an inhabited dwelling. The jury convicted defendants and his accomplices on all counts and found true a gang-murder special-circumstance allegation, as well as gang and firearm use allegations.