People v. Soria CA1/2

Filed 2/28/24 P. v. Soria CA1/2 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A166860 v. ISREAL NATHANIEL SORIA, (Humboldt County Super. Ct. No. CR2101834) Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Isreal Nathaniel Soria, Jr., fired 11 gunshots into a residence and a jury convicted him of attempted premeditated murder and attempted robbery. (Pen. Code, §§ 664, 187, 211.)1 The trial court sentenced him to 25 years to life on the premeditated murder conviction and a consecutive eight-month term on the attempted robbery conviction. Soria appeals. He contends the trial court erred by not staying the eight-month sentence for his attempted robbery conviction under section 654. We affirm. BACKGROUND Late one evening in June 2021, police went to a home in McKinleyville, California, after receiving a report that someone had been shot. When police arrived, D.E. told them a man had entered his home, shot him, and might still be in his house.

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

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Officers found 10 bullet holes inside the house. Outside, they found 11 bullet casings, a discarded semiautomatic firearm, and a fully loaded revolver. The semiautomatic had a magazine capacity of 32 bullets; in the gun’s chamber and magazine were 31 unexpended bullets. One bullet had a casing that matched the bullet casings found outside D.E.’s home. Eventually, police found and arrested Soria. During an interview with police, Soria revealed his ties to the “ ‘north side’ gang’ ” and admitted that he was a hitman who was “paid to kill.” He said that D.E. had “ ‘fucked with someone that’s part of [his] gang’ ” by stealing marijuana, so he “ ‘emptied . . . a seventeen round clip’ ” into D.E.’s home. Soria told police D.E. had thousands of dollars’ worth of marijuana and he was supposed to get “everything . . . in [D.E.’s] house.” However, D.E. “ ‘pulled an assault rifle’ ” on him first, so he fired before D.E. could shoot him. At trial, police testified that shots were fired into D.E.’s home from outside, and the bullet casings found outside D.E.’s house were all compatible with the magazine of the discarded gun. Police also testified that out of the 10 bullet holes found in the home, there was a grouping of 4 bullet holes in the breakfast bar, indicating the shooter had taken aim before firing the gun. Soria testified that D.E. “flaunt[ed] his marijuana and assault rifles” on his social media and he wanted to “rip [D.E.] off.” Soria testified that as he was standing behind D.E.’s home, he saw D.E. holding an assault rifle in the kitchen. Then, he claimed D.E. looked in his direction, “cock[ed] back the lever,” and said “[w]ho the fuck is that?” At that point, Soria “[s]tarted firing” before D.E. could “ ‘start firing’ ” at him. Soria went on to say he fired in a panic, without aiming, and “wasn’t even looking directly at [D.E.] when [he] was firing.” Soria admitted that he owned the recovered revolver.