People v. Silva CA2/4

Filed 2/27/13 P. v. Silva CA2/4 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 FOUR

THE PEOPLE, B236916

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. NA072796) v.

RAUL SILVA,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Stephen A. Marcus, Judge. Affirmed. Susan Pochter Stone, 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, Margaret E. Maxwell and Thomas C. Hsieh, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

A jury found appellant Raul Silva guilty of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)),1 and found true three special circumstance allegations -- witness murder, lying-in-wait, and gang murder (§ 190.2, subds. (a)(10), (a)(15), & (a)(22)) -- as well as a gang enhancement allegation (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)(C)). The trial court sentenced appellant to state prison for life without the possibility of parole. He appeals from the judgment of conviction, contending that his conviction must be reversed because the evidence was insufficient to corroborate the testimony of an accomplice, Jose Covarrubias. We affirm the judgment.

BACKGROUND Prosecution Evidence Appellant, a 204th Street gang member, was convicted as an aider and abettor in the murder of Christopher Ash. Ash was a 204th Street gang member who was killed because fellow gang members believed he was a “snitch” regarding the murder of 14-year-old Cheryl Green, committed by 204th Street gang member Jonathan Fajardo. According to Jose Covarrubias, an accomplice in Ash’s killing and the key prosecution witness at trial (as well as the boyfriend of Ash’s sister), Ash was murdered in the garage of appellant’s house. Like Covarrubias, the participants in the murder were all 204th Street gang members, including appellant, Fajardo, Robert Gonzales, and Carlos Pimentel. Because the only issue on appeal is the sufficiency of the evidence to corroborate Covarrubias’ testimony, our summary of the evidence focuses primarily on his testimony. We save for our Discussion section a description of much of the corroborating evidence.