Opinion ID: 2595083
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Sufficiency of Evidence of Financial Gain Special Circumstance

Text: The jury found true the special circumstance allegation that defendant killed Esther Alvarado for financial gain, that is, heroin and cocaine he got from Alfredo Padilla and Brenda Prado for committing the murder. Defendant argues the evidence was insufficient to support the financial gain special circumstance. To evaluate this claim, we must examine the whole record in the light most favorable to the judgment to determine whether it discloses substantial evidence evidence that is reasonable, credible, and of solid value such that a reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. ( People v. Kraft (2000) 23 Cal.4th 978, 1053, 99 Cal.Rptr.2d 1, 5 P.3d 68.) Although there was strong circumstantial evidence identifying defendant as the one who killed Esther Alvarado, the only evidence that the killing was in exchange for illegal drugs, and thus the only evidence supporting the financial gain special circumstance, was the testimony of prosecution witness Ybarra, who said he overheard defendant plotting with Alfredo Padilla and Brenda Prado to kill Alvarado. Defendant contends Ybarra's testimony was chronologically impossible, for reasons discussed below. Ybarra testified that he arrived at the Grayson house between 10:30 and 11 p.m.; defendant arrived, after dropping off Esther Alvarado at the nearby Guzman's Bar, between 11:00 and 11:30 p.m. Ybarra claimed he overheard defendant, Padilla, and Prado plot to kill Alvarado, after which defendant picked up Alvarado at Guzman's Bar and drove away. Lorenzo Guzman, the owner of the bar, corroborated Ybarra, testifying that Alvarado was in his bar for 15 or 20 minutes and left between 11:30 p.m. and midnight. Ybarra also testified that after defendant left the Grayson house, Dallas White gave him a ride home. On cross-examination, the defense impeached Ybarra with his preliminary hearing testimony that while White was taking him home, they drove by Johnny Alvarado's house and saw a sheriffs patrol car parked there, and Ybarra said to White that the sheriffs deputies must be questioning his brother Gilbert about the lawn mower stolen from Alvarado. (As previously mentioned, Gilbert had left the Grayson house with Alvarado after Alvarado had recovered the mower from Gilbert.) Similarly, Dallas White testified that when he drove Ybarra home the night of Esther Alvarado's murder, they saw a sheriffs car in front of Johnny Alvarado's house. There was also testimony by the deputy who arrested Gilbert that the deputy was at Johnny Alvarado's house from 9:20 p.m. until approximately 10:30 p.m., and the booking register showed that he booked Gilbert into the county jail shortly thereafter, at 11 p.m. Defendant reasons that if Ybarra and White saw the sheriffs car at Johnny Alvarado's house, they must have driven by that house before 10:30 p.m. (when the sheriff's deputy said he left the house), in which case Ybarra could not have been at the Grayson house at 11 p.m., when Ybarra said defendant arrived. Therefore, defendant argues, Ybarra must have lied when he said he overheard defendant plotting the killing of Esther Alvarado with Padilla and Prado. Not necessarily so. Ybarra may have been wrong in his time estimate when he testified that defendant arrived at the Grayson house between 11 and 11:30 p.m.; similarly, bar owner Guzman may have been wrong when he said Esther Alvarado left the bar between 11:30 and midnight. Neither Ybarra nor Guzman had any reason to pay close attention to the time when the events in question occurred, and Ybarra did not have a watch. Thus, Ybarra may have overheard defendant conspiring with Padilla and Prado at about 10 p.m., which would have enabled him to see the sheriffs patrol car on his way home. Alternatively, Ybarra may have been right in his time estimate, but the car he and White saw on the way to Ybarra's house may not have belonged to the sheriff's deputy who arrested Gilbert. Either way, the jury could reasonably have concluded that Ybarra truthfully testified that he heard defendant, Padilla, and Prado planning to kill Alvarado. Defendant claims that, in an interview with Detective DeLeon introduced at trial, Ybarra said he heard from Dallas White that defendant had plotted with Padilla and Prado to kill Esther Alvarado rather than overhearing the conversation himself. Defendant bases this claim on selective portions of an ambiguous and nearly incoherent comment Ybarra made at the beginning of the interview. Later in the interview, however, Ybarra explained that he personally heard defendant, Padilla, and Prado planning to kill Esther Alvarado. Defendant argues that Ybarra was not credible because he was a heroin addict, a liar, a thief, and a police informant. Defendant also points to many minor discrepancies in Ybarra's testimony at defendant's trial, when compared to his statement to Detective DeLeon and his testimony in other court proceedings. But the jury knew of Ybarra's unsavory reputation and the inconsistencies in his testimony, and it nevertheless believed him. So did the trial court, which commented at the sentencing hearing that Ybarra's testimony was credible despite some inconsistencies. In evaluating the sufficiency of evidence, the relevant question on appeal is not whether we are convinced beyond a reasonable doubt ( People v. Perez (1992) 2 Cal.4th 1117, 1127, 9 Cal.Rptr.2d 577, 831 P.2d 1159), but whether ` any rational trier of fact` could have been so persuaded ( People v. Lucero (1988) 44 Cal.3d 1006, 1020, 245 Cal.Rptr. 185, 750 P.2d 1342). Here, a rational trier of fact could, relying on Ybarra's testimony, find that defendant killed Esther Alvarado in exchange for heroin and cocaine, thus supporting the special circumstance that the killing was for financial gain.