People v. Yepez CA2/8

Filed 6/30/14 P. v. Yepez CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B247429

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA399823) v.

ROBERTO YEPEZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. Craig Elliott Veals, Judge. Affirmed.

Eileen M. Rice, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Assistant Attorney General, James William Bilderback II and Zee Rodriguez, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

__________________________

Roberto Yepez appeals from the judgment entered after a jury convicted him of two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of exhibiting a firearm, along with allegations that the firearm-possession counts were committed for the benefit of his street gang. We reject his contentions that the trial court erred by allowing the prosecution to introduce rebuttal evidence concerning his access to the car used to commit one set of the crimes and that there was insufficient evidence to support one of the street gang allegations. We therefore affirm the judgment.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

At around 7:00 p.m. on June 29, 2012, John M. was playing kickball on St. Elmo Drive with his daughter and several other children.1 John was a former member of the Sureno 13 gang and that stretch of St. Elmo Drive was claimed by Sureno’s rival, the 18th Street gang. John saw 18th Street gang member Jose Gomez, known as Darky, riding a bicycle alongside a slow-moving tan or gray Ford Explorer. John had had several run-ins with Gomez over the years. As Gomez and the Explorer approached John, Gomez began shouting insults to the Sureno gang. John ignored the first three, but after Gomez hurled another insult, John responded in kind with insults to 18th Street. Gomez approached John and the mutual insults continued, followed by Gomez spitting on John, and John spitting back. Gomez walked toward the Explorer and then walked back toward John, who pulled out a small knife and held it at his side to protect his girlfriend and the nearby children. John and his girlfriend both saw the driver of the Explorer reach under the front seat. The driver then headed toward John, almost hitting the children before stopping. The driver’s side window was down and both John and his girlfriend saw that the driver was holding a semiautomatic handgun in his lap with the barrel pointed toward the driver’s side door. The driver asked John why he was in his neighborhood. John replied that he had lived there since 1991. The driver said the area was “his hood” and told John