People v. Machain CA2/8

Filed 4/30/21 P. v. Machain CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, B302684

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA348847) v.

ALAN MACHAIN,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Robert J. Perry, Judge. Affirmed. Kelly C. Martin, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Zee Rodriguez, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Michael C. Keller, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. ____________________

A jury convicted Alan Machain of murdering Cesar Valenzuela. Machain’s defense was identity: he was not the murderer. The prosecution lacked evidence of motive, but attacked Machain’s defense with four types of circumstantial evidence. First was location. The murder scene was Machain’s residence. Only Machain lived there. It was a residential building in Silver Lake that victim Valenzuela, a handyman, was renovating. Only two people had keys to the place: Valenzuela and Machain. With the owner’s permission, Machain had been living in the building. In 2008, five days passed from the time Valenzuela’s family reported him missing to the discovery of his corpse in the building. After the murder but before the corpse discovery, Machain unexpectedly moved out of the Silver Lake building and in with his parents briefly. Machain brought no belongings with him; he left his things at the Silver Lake building. Second was flight. After police learned of the murder, Machain fled to Mexico for nine years. Machain disappeared after his brother said police wanted to speak with him. Machain remained abroad for nine years without seeing his brother. Machain was arrested in Mexico in 2017. Third was Valenzuela’s truck. Evidence showed Machain took the victim’s truck shortly after his murder, drove it, and finally abandoned it near Machain’s parents’ home. Fourth was gun evidence. This evidence is the focus of this appeal. The gun evidence also involved gang evidence, which Machain argues should not have been introduced at trial. We describe this gun and gang evidence.