Opinion ID: 2815883
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Prior aggravating conduct

Text: In March 1983, 25-year-old Norbert O. Estrada went to a market in Riverside. Defendant approached Estrada and offered to sell him marijuana. Defendant and Estrada began to argue. When Estrada took a combative stance, suggesting he was prepared to fight, defendant left. Defendant later returned. As Estrada stood up, defendant pulled a pistol from his waistband and fired three to five shots at Estrada, killing him. Estrada had been unarmed. Defendant then fled. Defendant turned himself in to the police a few days after the shooting. He admitted that he had been involved in the incident, but asserted it was an accident and self-defense. Police did not notice any injuries on defendant. Defendant was convicted of voluntary manslaughter.
In February 1989, Nigel Hider, an active gang member in the Gardena Payback Crips, was standing in front of a house in Riverside when a truck pulled up and someone inside the vehicle started firing at him. Hider was initially uncooperative with police and reluctant to identify the shooter, but eventually told the detective that defendant shot him. Angela McCurdy was with Hider when he was shot, and, in 2000, she told an investigator that she had seen a muzzle flash from a car fired by a Black male with a bald head, but she could not say for certain whether the shooter was defendant. At the penalty phase retrial, however, Hider testified that he never said defendant shot him and that he had identified the shooter as a White person. In her testimony, McCurdy denied seeing the shooting or telling the contrary to an investigator. The prosecution also presented evidence that, approximately one month before Hider was shot, defendant bragged to an officer that he had single-handedly expelled the Gardena Payback Crips gang from the Casa Blanca neighborhood. 10
Anita Smith testified that in January 1992 she was staying at a Riverside hotel with her husband, Earl Smith, and his friend, Eric Dawson. During the stay, Earl Smith argued with defendant‟s friend, Reginald Robinson, and they threatened to shoot each other. Defendant was not involved in the argument, but when Anita Smith was in the bathroom, someone shot Dawson in the elbow with a shotgun. She did not see who shot Dawson. Afterward, Anita Smith went down to the parking lot where she saw defendant‟s vehicle starting to leave and yelled out that she had the vehicle‟s license plate number. According to her testimony, Robinson got out of the vehicle and pointed a shotgun at her. Defendant also got out of the vehicle and told Robinson not to shoot her, but defendant slapped Smith hard across the face after Robinson put the gun down. Robinson and defendant then drove away.
Defendant‟s wife, Tina Johnson, testified that she had an affair with Jarah Smith while defendant was in jail awaiting trial on the present charges. Defendant found out about the affair and called his wife saying that he would blow up the school where she worked if she did not stop seeing Smith. Defendant obtained the assistance of third parties to set up several calls, including five to seven calls to Smith. Smith testified that defendant in these calls said that he knew where Smith lived, and, on one occasion, said he could “have something done” to him.
In March 1986, while defendant was serving his sentence for the manslaughter of Estrada, a correctional officer found two shanks in the single-man cell occupied by defendant. In August 1986, another correctional officer saw a shank fall out of 11 defendant‟s pocket when he was playing basketball. The shank was a round piece of plastic tapered to a point and capable of inflicting a stab wound. As additional aggravating evidence, the prosecutor presented testimony concerning defendant‟s assaults against six other inmates while housed in San Quentin State Prison, California State Prison, Corcoran, and Riverside County jail.