IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. EDUARDO DAVID VARGAS, Defendant and Appellant. S101247 Orange County Superior Court 99CF0831 July 13, 2020 Justice Cuéllar authored the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye and Justices Chin, Corrigan, Liu, Kruger, and Groban concurred. PEOPLE v. VARGAS S101247 Opinion of the Court by Cuéllar, J. Defendant Eduardo David Vargas was convicted of one count of first degree murder (Pen. Code,1 § 187, subd. (a)), six counts of robbery (§§ 211, 212.5, subd. (c)), one count of attempted robbery (§§ 664, 211), two counts of active participation in a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (a), defined at the time of the offense as “street terrorism”), and one count of possessing a firearm while on probation (former § 12021, subd. (d)). The jury also found true a robbery-murder special-circumstance allegation. (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(17)(A).) The People alleged as well, and the jury found true, allegations that defendant personally discharged a firearm causing death during the robbery murder (§ 12022.53, subd. (d)), and that the crimes were committed with the intent to promote a criminal street gang (§§ 186.22, subd. (b), 12022.53, subds. (b), (e)(1)). After a penalty trial, the jury returned a verdict of death. The trial court denied the automatic application to modify the verdict (§ 190.4, subd. (e)) and, on October 4, 2001, sentenced defendant to death. This appeal is automatic. (§ 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment. 1 All further unspecified statutory references are to the Penal Code. PEOPLE v. VARGAS Opinion of the Court by Cuéllar, J. I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND A. Guilt Phase 1. Prosecution Case a. March 30, 1999 i. Baek and Kim Realtor John Baek met with contractor Hong Kim on March 30, 1999 to inspect an abandoned property in Santa Ana. While Baek and Kim spoke, two men entered the property. One of the men, whom Baek later identified as defendant, pointed a gun at Baek and ordered him to give the men everything he had. Baek gave the men his pager and wallet, which contained cash and credit cards.2 Kim raised his hands in the air after seeing the two men enter with a gun, and his cell phone and checkbook were taken from him. After the two men left, Baek called the police using the cell phone in his car. Perly Abdulnour, owner of WorldNet Pager, testified that on the afternoon of March 30, 1999, three men came into his store. One of them, Eloy Gonzalez, with whom Abdulnour was familiar, wanted to pay his bill. The other two men wished to purchase pagers. Abdulnour accepted a $27.00 credit card payment on Gonzalez’s account for “air time.” The other two men, Matthew Miller,3 and a man who identified himself on the 2 Baek later learned two unauthorized purchases were made using his credit cards, both at WorldNet Pager, in the amounts of $27.00 and $329.99. 3 Abdulnour testified that he did not know Miller’s name at ...
Original document
Source: All recent Immigration Decisions In All the U.S. Courts of Appeals