People v. Ibarra CA2/6

Filed 3/11/14 P. v. Ibarra CA2/6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 SIX

THE PEOPLE, 2d Crim. No. B243065 (Super. Ct. No. 1200303) Plaintiff and Respondent, (Santa Barbara County)

v.

ROBERT QUINONEZ IBARRA,

Defendant and Appellant.

Robert Quinonez Ibarra appeals a judgment after conviction by jury of first degree murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait. (Pen. Code, § 190.2, subd. (a)(15).) The jury found true allegations that Ibarra personally used a knife and committed the crime for the benefit of a street gang. (Id., §§ 12022, subd. (b)(1), 186.22, subd. (b)(1).) The prosecutor did not seek the death penalty. The trial court sentenced Ibarra to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In an earlier proceeding, Joshua Miracle was convicted of the same crime and sentenced to death. After Miracle's conviction, he said that he alone was responsible for the murder and that Ibarra was innocent. He refused to testify in Ibarra's trial and the trial court excluded his out-of-court statements. Ibarra contends that the trial court should have admitted Miracle's statements because they were against his penal interest. (Evid. Code, § 1230.) Ibarra also contends a detective unfairly buttressed the testimony of an adverse witness when he

said the witness had offered to take a lie detector test. He contends the cumulative effect of these errors denied him a fair trial. We modify the judgment to include a mandatory $40 court security assessment (Pen. Code, § 1465.8, subd. (a)(1)) and a mandatory $30 criminal conviction assessment (Gov. Code, § 70373, subd. (a)(1)). We otherwise affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Elias Silva was stabbed to death in a Goleta apartment early in the morning on October 3, 2004. Ibarra, Miracle, and Robert Galindo were the only people present when Silva was attacked. Police found Silva's body in the apartment. His body had 48 stab wounds. Ibarra's fingerprints were on a knife on the floor of the apartment. Ibarra's blood was on the outside of the front door. A mixture of Ibarra's and Silva's blood was on Silva's shoe and on a T-shirt in the apartment. Miracle's palm print was on the bathroom counter and on the inside of the front door next to Ibarra's palm print. A large duffle bag with wheels was on the patio. A drop-cloth, a butane torch, a pick ax, and a receipt, among other items, were inside the bag. The receipt was for two drop-cloths and a pair of gloves that had been purchased the night of October 2, 2004, from Home Depot. A Home Depot videotape from that evening showed Ibarra buying gloves and a drop-cloth. Telephone records showed nine phone calls were made from Ibarra's cell phone to Silva's cell phone in the hours before the murder. Ibarra and Miracle were arrested a day after the murder, while driving Silva's car in San Diego. Ibarra was bleeding from a stab wound in his leg. Silva's blood and Ibarra's blood were on Miracle's shoes and on a pair of gloves in the back seat. In 2005, Miracle pled guilty to first degree murder and admitted to lying in wait, personally using a knife, and committing the crime for the benefit of a street gang. In 2006, a jury imposed the death penalty. Ibarra was tried in 2011. Before Ibarra's trial, Galindo pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and agreed to testify against Ibarra in exchange for a maximum sentence of 11 years in state prison.