P. v. Persons CA2/7 ( 2013 )


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  • Filed 5/21/13 P. v. Persons CA2/7
    NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS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 This opinion has not been certified for publication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 SEVEN
    THE PEOPLE,                                                          B237741
    Plaintiff and Respondent,                                   (Los Angeles County
    Super. Ct. No. PA058905)
    v.
    SAMUEL LEE PERSONS,
    Defendant and Appellant.
    APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Harvey
    Giss, Judge. Affirmed.
    Brett Harding Duxbury, 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, Victoria B. Wilson and Noah P.
    Hill, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
    __________
    Samuel Lee Persons was convicted by a jury of first degree murder and torture and
    sentenced to an aggregate state prison term of 61 years to life. On appeal Persons
    contends the trial court misstated the People‟s burden of proof in response to an objection
    during closing argument and improperly instructed the jury on aiding and abetting and
    torture. He also contends the prosecutor misstated the law of provocation in closing
    argument. We affirm.
    FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
    1. The Information
    Persons was charged in an amended information with murder (Pen. Code, § 187,
    1
    subd. (a)) and torture (§ 206). The information specially alleged Persons had suffered a
    prior serious felony conviction within the meaning of the “Three Strikes” law (§§ 667,
    subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d)) and section 667, subdivision (a), and had served
    six separate prison terms for felony convictions (§ 667.5, subd. (b)). Persons pleaded not
    guilty and denied the special allegations.
    2. The Evidence at Trial
    Beatrice Brothers lived in her own home with her adult son, Sidney Cole. Bobby
    Gates lived in a converted garage in the back of the house along with his girlfriend,
    Catherine Hoskins, and Hoskins‟s sons, John and Antwan. Brothers‟s daughter, Lachelle
    Robinson, lived in a house across the street with her daughter, Mimi.
    In the early morning of December 5, 2005, after John had told his mother and
    Brothers that Gates had done something to him that he “did not like,” Brothers
    confronted Gates in her living room and accused him of molesting John and Mimi. After
    being summoned by Brothers, Persons and his nephew, Christopher Yancy, arrived at the
    house; and Brothers and Hoskins told them Gates had molested the children.
    Persons tied Gates to a chair and placed a rubber ball in his mouth to prevent him
    from speaking. When the ball fell out, Brothers put it back in and secured it by tying a
    sock around Gates‟s mouth. Brothers, Persons and Yancy started beating Gates.
    1      Statutory references are to the Penal Code.
    2
    Brothers hit him in the head with a broomstick 10 times with such force that the stick
    broke in half. Persons hit Gates in the face with his fist. Robinson interrupted the attack,
    telling them to “wait” and reminding them the children were in the house. Brothers told
    her they could not wait, they had to “do this now.” Then, Brothers, Persons, Hoskins and
    Yancy took Gates back to the garage.
    Robinson peered in the garage and saw Persons and Yancy taking turns brutally
    kicking Gates while he lay on the floor. Robinson also saw Brothers‟s dog, a pit-bull,
    jumping on Gates and biting him.
    Persons told police that, during the attack in the garage, Brothers and Hoskins
    sodomized Gates with a heated rod. Yancy poured rubbing alcohol on Gates‟s stomach,
    then lit a match and set him on fire. When Gates started screaming, Yancy gagged him
    with something. Persons said he did not really participate in the beating in the garage.
    Brothers and Yancy, on the other hand, were “out of control.” The group did not plan on
    killing Gates; they just wanted to teach him a lesson for molesting children. Gates died
    during the course of the attack. Brothers and Yancy dumped the body near the freeway
    and set it on fire.
    Paul Gliniecki, a deputy coroner with the Los Angeles County Coroner‟s Office,
    testified Gates had suffered blunt force trauma to his head, face, neck, torso, pelvis, arms
    and legs and had burns all over his body. A gag was found stuffed in his throat.
    According to Dr. Gliniecki, concentric marks on Gates‟s back were consistent with
    having been burned by a cigarette or the end of a heated metal rod while he was still
    alive. Dr. Gliniecki could not be certain whether all the burns on Gates‟s body were
    inflicted while he was alive or postmortem, nor did he see any obvious evidence of
    forcible sodomy with a foreign object. Gliniecki opined Gates died primarily of
    2
    asphyxiation and listed blunt force trauma as a contributing cause of death.
    2     Brothers, Yancy and Persons were tried separately for their respective roles in
    Gates‟s homicide. We reversed Brothers‟s first degree murder conviction in People v.
    Brothers (Dec. 12, 2011, B225376) [nonpub. opn.] based on instructional error and
    3
    3. Jury Instructions, Verdict and Sentence
    The jury was instructed with CALCRIM Nos. 520 (murder); 521 (degrees of
    murder); 540A and 540B (first degree felony murder based on torture or aiding and
    abetting torture); 400 and 401 (general principles of aiding and abetting); 402 (murder as
    a natural and probable consequence of torture); 810 (elements of torture); 570 (voluntary
    manslaughter based on killing in the heat of passion); and 522 (provocation reducing first
    degree murder to second degree murder or voluntary manslaughter).
    The jury found Persons guilty of murder and torture and found the murder to be in
    the first degree. After Persons waived his right to a jury trial on the prior conviction and
    prior prison term enhancement allegations, the court found each of those special
    allegations true. Persons was sentenced, as a second-strike offender, to an aggregate state
    3
    prison term of 61 years to life.
    DISCUSSION
    1. The Trial Court Did Not Misstate the People’s Burden of Proof
    In his closing argument defense counsel identified and explained various legal
    standards of proof to the jury—probable cause, preponderance of the evidence, clear and
    convincing evidence and beyond a reasonable doubt—apparently to underscore the
    heightened burden imposed by the reasonable doubt standard. In the course of this
    explanation, defense counsel told the jury that something as important as parental rights
    can be terminated by clear and convincing evidence but “beyond a reasonable doubt,” the
    “highest standard of proof,” is reserved for when we “judge one of our fellow citizens.”
    The prosecutor objected, and the trial court told the jury “the instruction as to reasonable
    doubt is exactly as I gave it to you and as it appears in the instructions.” “So you can
    remanded the case for a new trial. We affirmed Yancy‟s second degree murder
    conviction in People v. Yancy (July 23, 2012, B228563) [nonpub opn.].
    3       Persons‟s sentence consisted of 25 years to life for the murder, doubled to 50 years
    to life under the Three Strikes law, plus a consecutive five-year prior serious felony
    conviction enhancement and six consecutive one-year prior prison term enhancements.
    Sentence on the torture conviction was stayed pursuant to section 654.
    4
    4
    read a lot into what is meant by abiding conviction and so forth. [ ] That‟s maybe the
    beauty of the law. It gets flexibility for the jurors, but the instruction that I‟ve read you
    on reasonable doubt is what prevails and not counsel‟s interpretation. ”
    Persons contends the court‟s statements suggesting the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt
    standard was “flexible” unconstitutionally lowered the standard of proof in this criminal
    case. (See Victor v. Nebraska (1994) 
    511 U.S. 1
    , 22 [
    114 S.Ct. 1239
    , 
    127 L.Ed.2d 583
    ]
    [“Due Process Clause requires the government to prove a criminal defendant‟s guilt
    beyond a reasonable doubt, and the trial court must avoid defining reasonable doubt so as
    to lead the jury to convict on a lesser showing than due process requires”]; People v.
    Aranda (2012) 
    55 Cal.4th 342
    , 356; People v. Mayo (2006) 
    140 Cal.App.4th 535
    , 542.)
    Contrary to Persons‟s contention, far from misstating the burden of proof, the
    court informed the jury that the only definition it was to rely on concerning reasonable
    doubt was the instruction the court had given to them. Persons does not challenge the
    propriety of CALCRIM No. 220 nor would such a challenge have merit. (See People v.
    Aranda, supra, 55 Cal.4th at p. 353 [court “satisfies” its statutory and constitutional
    obligation to instruct on principles of reasonable doubt by giving CALCRIM No. 220].)
    Nothing in the court‟s remarks admonishing the jury to consider the instructions given
    altered the definition of reasonable doubt in CALCRIM No. 220 or lowered the People‟s
    burden of proof.
    2. The Court Properly Instructed the Jury on the Intent Required for Torture
    “Every person who, with the intent to cause cruel or extreme pain and suffering
    for the purpose of revenge, extortion, persuasion, or for any sadistic purpose, inflicts
    great bodily injury as defined in Section 1202.7 upon the person of another, is guilty of
    torture. [¶] The crime of torture does not require any proof that the victim suffered
    pain.” (§ 206.) The court instructed the jury with CALCRIM No. 810, which closely
    4        The court instructed the jury with CALCRIM No. 220, which provides in part,
    “Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is proof that leaves you with an abiding conviction that
    the charge is true. The evidence need not eliminate all possible doubt because everything
    in life is open to some possible or imaginary doubt. . . .”
    5
    5
    tracks section 206 and restates the statutory language.
    Persons, whose counsel did not object to the instruction or request any amplifying
    language, contends CALCRIM No. 810 is ambiguous in that “extreme pain” could
    simply mean pain “beyond the ordinary or average” (see Webster‟s Encyclopedic
    Unabridged Dict. of the English Language (2001) p. 686 [defining “extreme”]) or it can
    mean something much more limited in scope, that is, “the utmost [pain] or exceedingly
    great in degree.” (Ibid.; accord, American Heritage Dict. (2d College ed. 1992) p. 481
    [defining extreme as “the greatest degree of intensity away from the norm”].) He argues
    the latter definition must have been what the voters had in mind when they approved
    6
    section 206 as part of Proposition 115. Because CALCRIM No. 810 permitted the jury
    to convict Persons of torture if they found an intent to inflict merely “immoderate” pain
    rather than the “utmost or an exceedingly great degree of pain and suffering,” he argues,
    7
    his conviction should be reversed.
    5       In accordance with CALCRIM No. 810, the trial court instructed the jury that, to
    prove the defendant is guilty of torture, the People must establish: “1. The defendant
    inflicted great bodily injury on someone else; [¶] AND [¶] 2. When inflicting the
    injury, the defendant intended to cause cruel or extreme pain and suffering for the
    purpose of revenge, extortion, persuasion, or for any sadistic purpose. [¶] Great bodily
    injury means significant or substantial physical injury. It is an injury that is greater than
    minor or moderate harm. [¶] It is not required that a victim actually suffer pain.”
    6       Section 206 was enacted as part of Proposition 115, the “Crime Victims Justice
    Reform Act,” approved by the voters in 1990. (See Raven v. Deukmejian (1990)
    
    52 Cal.3d 336
    , 340; People v. Barrera (1993) 
    14 Cal.App.4th 1555
    , 1559.) The ballot
    initiative was a response to People v. Singleton (1980) 
    112 Cal.App.3d 418
    , to remedy
    what the authors of the initiative viewed as an unacceptably light penalty for a heinous
    offense not resulting in the death of the victim. (See People v. Jung (1999)
    
    71 Cal.App.4th 1036
    , 1048 (dis. opn. of Armstrong, J.) [ballot pamphlet argument in
    favor of Proposition 115 stated the law would ensure “„that no criminal will ever again
    rape a young girl and hack off her arms, and serve only a minimal punishment, such as
    the 7-1/2 years Singleton served‟”].) Section 206.1, enacted together with section 206 as
    part of Proposition 115, made the new offense of torture punishable by imprisonment for
    life.
    7      We review assertions of instructional error de novo to determine whether the
    instruction accurately states the law. (People v. Cole (2004) 
    33 Cal.4th 1158
    , 1210;
    6
    “The language of a statute defining a crime or defense is generally an appropriate
    and desirable basis for an instruction, and is ordinarily sufficient when the defendant fails
    to request amplification. If the jury would have no difficulty in understanding the statute
    without guidance, the court need do no more than instruct in statutory language.”
    (People v. Poggi (1988) 
    45 Cal.3d 306
    , 327; accord, People v. Page (1980)
    
    104 Cal.App.3d 569
    , 577; see People v. Mayfield (1997) 
    14 Cal.4th 668
    , 778 [if
    instruction is adequate, trial court is under no obligation to amplify or explain in absence
    of a request that it do so].) The court‟s sua sponte obligation to add clarifying language
    arises only when “a statutory term „does not have a plain, unambiguous meaning‟
    [citation], has a „particular and restricted meaning,‟ or has a technical meaning peculiar to
    the law or an area of law.” (People v. Roberge (2003) 
    29 Cal.4th 979
    , 988.)
    In a similar context, the Supreme Court has held the term “extreme” has a
    “commonsense meaning” the jury may be expected to use” in applying instructions. (See
    People v. Pearson (2013) 
    56 Cal.4th 393
    , 478 [“„[t]he term[] “extreme” . . as used in
    [§] 190.3 [“extreme duress” or “extreme mental or emotional disturbance”] ha[s] [a]
    commonsense meaning[] that the jury may be expected to use in applying the
    instructions‟”]; People v. Williams (2006) 
    40 Cal.4th 287
    , 338 [same].) In fact, numerous
    appellate courts have rejected the argument the language in section 206 is too vague or
    ambiguous to be properly understood. (See, e.g., People v. Aguilar (1997)
    
    58 Cal.App.4th 1196
    , 1202 [“cruel pain” as used in § 206 is the equivalent of “extreme”
    or “severe” pain; accordingly, the phrase “„cruel or extreme pain and suffering‟ as used in
    [§] 206, is not unconstitutionally vague”]; People v. Misa (2006) 
    140 Cal.App.4th 837
    ,
    844 [rejecting contention “that an ordinary person cannot understand what conduct is
    prohibited by section 206”]; People v. Vital (1996) 
    45 Cal.App.4th 441
    , 444 [§ 206
    People v. Alvarez (1996) 
    14 Cal.4th 155
    , 217-218.) When the instruction is challenged as
    ambiguous and subject to an erroneous interpretation by the jury, we review the
    instruction independently to determine whether there is a reasonable likelihood the jury
    understood the instruction in the manner asserted by the defendant. (People v. Cross
    (2008) 
    45 Cal.4th 58
    , 67-68.)
    7
    “plainly sets forth its requirements for torture”]; People v. Barrera (1993) 
    14 Cal.App.4th
                                                                            8
    1555, 1572 [“[t]he terms used in [§] 206, and therefore in CALJIC No. 9.90[ ] are of such
    common usage that they are presumed to be within the understanding of reasonable
    jurors”].) Those courts‟ persuasive analyses apply equally as well when the argument, as
    here, is shifted from challenging the language of the statute to challenging the jury
    instruction incorporating that language. (See, e.g., Aguilar, at p. 1202 [“[w]e conclude
    CALJIC No. 9.90 correctly sets forth the elements of the crime of torture”]; Barrera, at
    p. 1572 [holding neither § 206 nor CALJIC No. 9.90 is vague or ambiguous; CALJIC
    No. 9.90 correctly states the elements of torture].) Because “intent to cause cruel or
    extreme pain and suffering” does not require additional explanation beyond the
    commonsense meaning of “extreme” the jury may be expected to apply (see People v.
    Williams, 
    supra,
     40 Cal.4th at p. 338), the trial court was under no obligation to sua
    sponte provide any amplifying or clarifying language to supplement CALCRIM No. 810.
    3. The Prosecutor’s Explanation of the Law of Provocation in Closing Argument
    Was Not Reversible Error
    A killing that would otherwise be murder is reduced to voluntary manslaughter if
    the defendant acted because of a sudden quarrel or in the heat of passion. (People v.
    Lasko (2000) 
    23 Cal.4th 101
    , 110; People v. Moye (2009) 
    47 Cal.4th 537
    , 549.) There
    are three elements to this provocation theory: (1) the defendant was provoked; (2) as a
    result of the provocation, the defendant acted rashly and under the influence of intense
    emotion that obscured his or her reasoning or judgment; and (3) the provocation would
    have caused a person of average disposition to act rashly and without due deliberation,
    that is, from passion rather than from judgment. (People v. Breverman (1998) 
    19 Cal.4th 142
    , 163; Moye, at p. 550.)
    8      CALJIC No. 9.90, the predecessor pattern jury instruction to CALCRIM No. 810,
    similarly provides, “[t]he person inflicting the injury did so with specific intent to cause
    cruel or extreme pain and suffering [for the purpose of [revenge] [,] extortion[,]
    [persuasion]] [,] [or] [for any sadistic purpose].” (Brackets in original.)
    8
    During closing argument, the prosecutor properly identified the three elements
    necessary to reduce a murder to voluntary manslaughter based on provocation. The
    prosecutor then stated, as to the third element, “hearing allegations of child molestation
    might cause someone to act rashly, might cause someone to become very upset. But
    would it cause someone to immediately start tying, tying up someone, shove a ball in
    their mouth, to start dragging them out?” Defense counsel objected. The court overruled
    the objection, stating the prosecutor‟s interpretation of the third element was “argument”
    and defense counsel would be able to counter with his own argument. The prosecutor
    then continued, “Would a reasonable person of average disposition behave in the way
    [Persons] behaved that night? I say no way.” Defense counsel did not discuss the
    instructions pertaining to adequate provocation during his closing argument.
    Persons now contends the prosecutor misstated the law when, after acknowledging
    allegations of child molestation may provoke a reasonable person to act rashly, he then
    argued Persons‟s actions in response to what may have been sufficient provocation were
    unreasonable. (See People v. Bell (1989) 
    49 Cal.3d 502
    , 538 [during closing argument
    counsel has “broad discretion in discussing the legal and factual merits of a case,” but “it
    is improper to misstate the law”]; People v. Mendoza (2007) 
    42 Cal.4th 686
    , 702 [same].)
    He contends that, in determining whether a killer‟s reason was obscured by provocation
    sufficient to negate malice, “the focus is on the provocation—the surrounding
    circumstances—and whether it was sufficient to cause a reasonable person to act rashly.
    How the killer responded to the provocation and the reasonableness of the response is not
    relevant to sudden quarrel or heat of passion.” (People v. Najera (2006) 
    138 Cal.App.4th 212
    , 223; see 
    ibid.
     [prosecutor misstated law of provocation during closing argument
    when he stated the offense would be voluntary manslaughter only if “a reasonable
    person would do what the defendant did” in response to the particular provocation
    shown].)
    The People argue Najera was wrongly decided and conflicts with statements in
    other cases suggesting the provocation must be sufficient not only to cause the defendant
    to act rashly, but also to incite the defendant “to homicidal conduct.” (People v. Lee
    9
    (1999) 
    20 Cal.4th 47
    , 59; accord, People v. Waidla (2000) 
    22 Cal.4th 690
    , 740, fn. 17
    [concluding there was insufficient evidence that “Viivi so provoked Waidla as adequately
    to arouse a reasonable person to make the kind of sudden and devastating attack that he
    participated in making”].)
    We need not resolve the question whether the prosecutor misstated the law of
    9
    provocation because, even if he did, the error was harmless. (See People v. Ochoa
    (1998) 
    19 Cal.4th 353
    , 427 [when claim of misconduct is based on arguments or
    comments the prosecutor made to the jury, the question of prejudice is determined by
    “„whether there is a reasonable likelihood that the jury construed or applied any of the
    complained-of remarks in an objectionable fashion‟”]; People v. Morales (2001)
    
    25 Cal.4th 34
    , 47 [same].)
    The jury was instructed with CALCRIM No. 570, which follows Najera’s
    interpretation of the requisite provocation: “In deciding whether the provocation was
    sufficient, consider whether a person of average disposition, in the same situation and
    10
    knowing the same facts, would have reacted from passion rather than from judgment.”
    The jury was also instructed with CALCRIM 200 informing them they must follow the
    court‟s instructions even if they conflict with “the attorney‟s comments on the law.” We
    presume the jury understood and followed the instructions given. (People v. Yeoman
    (2003) 
    31 Cal.4th 93
    , 139.)
    Furthermore, the jury found Persons guilty of torture. Accordingly, under the
    felony murder rule, a properly instructed jury was required to (and did) find Persons
    guilty of murder in the first degree. Provocation is irrelevant to a conviction based on
    9       Whether the law of provocation considers exclusively the effect on a reasonable
    person‟s judgment under the circumstances or extends as well to the reasonableness of
    his or her actions in response to those circumstances is currently pending before the
    Supreme Court. (See People v. Beltran (Apr. 25, 2012, S192644) __ Cal.4th __ [2012
    Cal. Lexis 3937].)
    10    The use note to CALCRIM No. 570 specifically cites People v. Najera, supra, 
    138 Cal.App.4th 212
    , as support for the instruction, noting “the average person need not have
    been provoked to kill, just to act rashly and without deliberation.”
    10
    felony murder. (See People v. Seaton (2001) 
    26 Cal.4th 598
    , 665 [because malice is not
    an element of felony murder, provocation is irrelevant to that theory; “under the felony-
    murder rule, a killing in the commission of certain felonies specified in [§] 189 is first
    degree murder” whether or not defendant acted with malice]; People v. Cavitt (2004)
    
    33 Cal.4th 187
    , 197 [same]; CALCRIM No. 522 [“[p]rovocation does not apply to a
    prosecution under a theory of felony murder”]; § 189 [listing torture as a qualifying
    offense for first degree felony murder”]; cf. People v. Visciotti (1992) 
    2 Cal.4th 1
    , 57,
    fn. 25 [“The jury found under properly given instructions that the murder was intentional,
    and was committed in the perpetration of robbery, thus establishing that the killing was
    murder of the first degree under the felony-murder rule and [§] 189 without the necessity
    of proving malice. Any error in failing to instruct on voluntary manslaughter was
    harmless.”].)
    4. Jury Instructions on Aiding and Abetting a Premeditated Murder Were Not
    Improper; Any Error Was Harmless in Any Event
    The trial court instructed the jury with CALCRIM No. 400 (aiding and abetting),
    telling the jury, “A person may be guilty of a crime in two ways. One, he or she may
    have directly committed the crime. I will call that person the perpetrator. Two, he or she
    may have aided and abetted a perpetrator who directly committed the crime. [¶] A
    person is guilty of a crime whether he or she committed it personally or aided and abetted
    the perpetrator.” CALCRIM No. 401 explained, “Someone aids and abets a crime if he
    or she knows of the perpetrator‟s unlawful purpose and he or she specifically intends to,
    and does in fact, aid, facilitate, promote, encourage, or instigate the perpetrator‟s
    commission of that crime.” The court also instructed the jury with CALCRIM Nos. 520
    and 521 (requirements of first degree premeditated murder), telling the jury, “The
    defendant is guilty of first degree murder if the People have proved that he acted
    willfully, deliberately and with premeditation.”
    Persons contends this combination of jury instructions was legally deficient
    because it permitted the jury to find him guilty of aiding and abetting a premeditated
    murder even if it found he did not personally deliberate. (See People v. McCoy (2001)
    11
    
    25 Cal.4th 1111
    , 1118 [when offense charged is murder, jury should be instructed that the
    degree of murder is dependent on the defendant‟s own mens rea, not that of his or her
    coparticipant]; People v. Samaniego (2009) 
    172 Cal.App.4th 1148
    , 1164-1165
    (Samaniego) [same]; People v. Nero (2010) 
    181 Cal.App.4th 504
    , 518 (Nero).) Although
    11
    we take issue with the accuracy of Persons‟s characterization of the instructions given,
    we need not address it because any error was plainly harmless even under the stringent
    beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard of Chapman v. California (1967) 
    386 U.S. 18
    [
    87 S.Ct. 824
    , 
    17 L.Ed.2d 705
    ]. (See People v. Delgado (2013) 
    56 Cal.4th 480
    , 490
    [“[w]hen an instruction tells the jury it may convict the defendant on a theory he or she
    aided and abetted in commission of the offense, but omits one or more of that theory‟s
    necessary findings, the error may be deemed equivalent to omitting an element of a
    charged offense,” an error evaluated under the Chapman standard].)
    The jury was correctly informed, under both the natural and probable
    consequences doctrine and the felony murder rule, the only specific intent it was required
    to find to convict Persons of first degree murder was the intent to commit torture. (See,
    e.g., People v. Pearson (2012) 
    53 Cal.4th 306
    , 321 [natural and probable consequences
    rule “extends accomplice liability to the perpetrator‟s reasonably foreseeable crimes
    regardless of whether the defendant personally harbored the specific intent required for
    the commission of the charged, nontarget offense”]; McCoy, supra, 25 Cal.4th at p. 1118,
    fn. 1 [analysis concerning necessity of accomplice sharing same mens rea of perpetrator
    in connection with the homicide does not apply to natural and probable consequences
    doctrine, which looks to whether accomplice possesses specific intent to commit target
    offense]; People v. Cavitt, supra, 33 Cal.4th at p. 197 [the mental state required for
    11       In contrast to the instruction at issue in Samaniego and Nero, the jury was not told
    if it found Persons had aided and abetted the homicide, he and the actual perpetrator are
    “equally guilty” as principals in the offense. (See Samaniego, supra, 172 Cal.App.4th at
    p. 1164; Nero, supra, 181 Cal.App.4th at p. 516.). Rather, the jury was properly
    instructed it could find Persons guilty of aiding and abetting premeditated murder only if
    he knew the perpetrator‟s unlawful purpose and specifically intended to aid in that
    purpose. This is a correct pronouncement of the law.
    12
    felony murder “is simply the specific intent to commit the underlying felony”]; see also
    CALCRIM Nos. 402 [natural and probable consequences] and 540A and 540B [felony
    murder].) The jury necessarily found Persons possessed the specific intent to commit
    torture when it convicted him of that crime. Accordingly, under either the natural and
    probable cause theory or the felony murder rule, it properly found him guilty of first
    degree murder. Any error in the instructions on the specific intent required to convict for
    aiding and abetting a premeditated murder (a separate theory for first degree murder) is
    irrelevant to the verdict.
    DISPOSITION
    The judgment is affirmed.
    PERLUSS, P. J.
    We concur:
    WOODS, J.
    ZELON, J.
    13