People v. Ramadhan

Filed 5/27/26 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D084475

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCE414568)

OBAIDA SAAD RAMADHAN,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Daniel G. Lamborn, Judge. Affirmed. Lizabeth Weis, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Christopher P. Beesley and Caelle Oetting, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. A jury convicted Obaida Saad Ramadhan of second degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)) and found true that he personally used and discharged a firearm, proximately causing great bodily injury and death, in the commission of the crime (§§ 12022.5(a), 12022.53(d)). Ramadhan was sentenced to a total prison term of 20 years plus 15 years to life. Ramadhan contends this court must reverse the judgment because the trial court prejudicially erred when it admitted statements Ramadhan made

after invoking his right to counsel in the middle of an ongoing Perkins operation—a law enforcement tactic in which an undercover agent is placed in a jail cell with a suspect to elicit incriminating statements. (See Illinois v. Perkins (1990) 496 U.S. 292 (Perkins).) In our view, however, Ramadhan reads our recent decision in People v. Zapata (2026) 118 Cal.App.5th 529 (Zapata) too broadly. Distilled to its essence, Zapata prohibits participation in a Perkins operation by known law enforcement officers after a defendant has invoked the Miranda right to counsel. Distinguishing Zapata from the facts of this case, we disagree with Ramadhan and, accordingly, affirm. I. A. One evening in August 2022, Jasiah White was hanging out in a parking lot with his brother, several friends, and others, drinking alcohol and smoking. Later, “a Caucasian male” with a beard, whom White’s brother identified as Ramadhan, joined them. Ramadhan wore a gray hoodie with the hood up and his hands in the front pocket. White’s brother thought Ramadhan had a gun. One of White’s friends heard gunshots, ran in their direction, and saw White holding his stomach. White told his friend he had been shot, told him the shooter had run off, and collapsed. White died of gunshot wounds of the torso. Someone who lived across from the parking lot heard gunshots, looked out the window, and saw someone wearing a hoodie over their head running away. Another person heard gunshots and recorded a video of someone in a gray hoodie running past. At the scene, the police recovered five 9mm casings all fired from the same firearm in the area of the shooting. Swabs taken from the casings