People v. Gallegos CA2/5 ( 2024 )

Filed 9/23/24 P. v. Gallegos CA2/5
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IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION FIVE
THE PEOPLE, B329376
Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County
Super. Ct. No. NA105111)
v.
BRYAN GALLEGOS,
Defendant and Appellant.
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los
Angeles County, Laura L. Laesecke, Judge. Affirmed.
Theresa Osterman Stevenson, under appointment by Court
of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief
Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Assistant
Attorney General Plaintiff and Respondent, Steven D. Matthews
and Rama R. Maline, Deputy Attorneys General.
__________________________
Bryan Gallegos (defendant) tailed a car occupied by his ex-
girlfriend and Armando Amaya, ultimately forcing them to stop
at a dead end. Defendant then exited his own car carrying a
loaded gun, approached Amaya, and shot him in the face at close
range. A jury convicted defendant of first degree murder.
Defendant argues there was insufficient evidence that he acted
with premeditation and deliberation. We affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
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I. Facts
Defendant and Nicole Tejada met in 2009 and dated until
September 2015. They had a child together and maintained
contact after they broke up, in order to coparent their son.
Tejada dated Armando Amaya between February 2016 and May
2016, and they remained friends thereafter. Defendant “was the
jealous type towards” Tejada, even though they were no longer a
couple.
On September 4, 2016, defendant and Tejada spent the
morning together. They shopped to find Tejada a jersey for a
sports-themed birthday party she would attend later that day.
Tejada told defendant that the party was at Break Room bar in
Long Beach, but she did not invite him along. Defendant and
Tejada ate together and went to defendant’s house before
defendant dropped her off in the afternoon.
Tejada picked up a couple of friends before heading to the
Break Room. They arrived around 3:45 p.m., and remained
there, socializing and drinking until just after 11:00 p.m.
While Tejada was at the bar, she and defendant exchanged text
1
These facts are derived from the evidence presented at
trial.
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messages about what each one was doing. Cell phone records
showed that defendant was in Wilmington at 10:57 p.m., but was
in the Break Room area by 11:07 p.m.
At some point, the party attendees went outside to smoke
cigarettes, and a fight broke out. After the fight, Tejada and
others at the party decided to drive to a friend’s house in
Wilmington. Tejada took the driver’s seat of her car, and Amaya
took the passenger seat.
Tejada turned out of the parking lot, and, shortly
thereafter, noticed a car following her “super close.” Surveillance
video footage showed defendant’s car following Tejada’s. After
Tejada changed lanes, and saw the car behind her also change
lanes, she recognized it as defendant’s car. She sped up because
she “had [Amaya] in the car and . . . knew [defendant] was going
to get mad at [her] for being with a guy.” Tejada missed her
intended freeway exit, “kept driving until [she] couldn’t go
anymore,” and stopped at a dead end. Defendant stopped his car
next to hers. Defendant’s friend, Edgar Robledo, was in the
passenger’s seat of his car. Defendant exited the driver’s seat,
“came to [Tejada’s] car door,” “opened [it], . . . started yelling” at
her and struck her with his fist, asking “who the fuck is that?”
Defendant told Amaya to get out of the car. Amaya complied,
responding that he would walk from there. Surveillance video
shows defendant walked around the back of Tejada’s car to the
passenger’s side where Amaya was standing and then stood very
close to Amaya after which Amaya collapsed to the ground.
A medical examiner confirmed that Amaya was shot in the face
from “a few inches” away, and that the bullet entered Amaya’s
nose, fractured his cheekbone, and continued through his
pharynx and then through the spine in his neck.
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After shooting Amaya, defendant ordered Tejada out of her
car. Defendant told her, “I just mugged him,” and told her to get
into his car. Tejada took the passenger’s seat of defendant’s car,
and Robledo drove to an area of Wilmington known as “Ghost
Town.” Defendant took Tejada’s car and followed them.
The two cars stopped on a dark street in Ghost Town, next
to junkyards and shipping containers. Robledo exited defendant’s
car, and defendant took the driver’s seat, threw Tejada a balloon,
and told her to fill it up with “noz,” or nitrous oxide—an inebriant
of sorts. Tejada declined, and defendant filled the balloon
himself, and inhaled the noz. He then drove Tejada home,
leaving her car in Ghost Town.
When they reached Tejada’s home, defendant walked
Tejada into her room. Tejada was upset and crying, and asked
defendant why he did what he did. Defendant responded, “You’re
lucky I didn’t pop your ass too.”
II. Procedural Background
The People charged defendant with murder (Pen. Code,
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§ 187, subd. (a)), and alleged that he killed the victim by lying in
wait (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(15)), a principal was armed (§ 12022,
subd. (a)(1)), defendant personally used a firearm (§ 12022.53,
subd. (b)), and he personally discharged a firearm (§ 12022.53,
subd. (c)), which caused great bodily injury (§ 12022.53, subd.
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(d)). The People also charged defendant with assault with a
2
Further statutory references are to the Penal Code.
3
Robledo pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
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deadly weapon on a police officer (§ 245, subd. (c)).
The jury convicted defendant of first degree murder and
found true all three firearm enhancements. The jury found not
true the lying-in-wait allegation. The jury also found defendant
not guilty of assault with a deadly weapon upon a police officer,
but guilty of the lesser-included offense of assault with a deadly
weapon.
The trial court sentenced defendant to 53 years to life in
state prison, comprised of 25 years to life on each of the base
murder count and the firearm enhancement, and three years for
the assault charge.
Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal.
DISCUSSION
Defendant argues his first degree murder conviction must
be reversed or reduced to second degree murder because there
was insufficient evidence he acted with premeditation and
deliberation.
I. Standard of Review
We review a jury’s finding that a defendant acted with
premeditation and deliberation for substantial evidence, asking
whether the record “ ‘ “ ‘ “discloses . . . evidence – that is evidence
which is reasonable, credible, and of solid value” ’ ” ’ ” from which
“any rational trier of fact” could make that finding beyond a
reasonable doubt. (People v. Rivera (2019) 7 Cal.5th 306, 323;
People v. Perez (1992) 2 Cal.4th 1117, 1127.) In undertaking this
inquiry, we view the record in the light most favorable to the
jury’s finding by deferring to the jury’s credibility determinations,
4
We have omitted the facts underlying this second count
because it is not at issue in this appeal.
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drawing all reasonable inferences in support of the finding, and
resolving all evidentiary conflicts in favor of the finding. (People
v. Salazar (2016) 63 Cal.4th 214, 242 (Salazar); People v. Maury
(2003) 30 Cal.4th 342, 396.)
II. Law on Premeditation and Deliberation
“ ‘ “Premeditation means thought over in advance’ ” (People
v. Sandoval (2015) 62 Cal.4th 394, 424), and “deliberation” means
a “ ‘careful weighing of considerations in forming a course of
action’ ” (Salazar, supra, 63 Cal.4th at p. 245). “ ‘ “The process of
premeditation and deliberation does not require any extended
period of time” ’ ”; what matters is the “extent of the reflection,
not the length of time.” (Salazar, at p. 245.; People v. Nelson
(2011) 51 Cal.4th 198, 213 [“Thoughts may follow each other with
great rapidity, and cold, calculated judgment may be arrived at
quickly”].) In evaluating whether a defendant has committed a
murder with premeditation and deliberation, courts look to—but
are not limited to—three factors: (1) whether the defendant had
a motive to kill the victim; (2) whether the defendant in any way
planned the killing; and (3) whether the defendant’s manner of
killing evinced a design to kill. (People v. Morales (2020) 10
Cal.5th 76, 88-89, citing People v. Anderson (1968) 70 Cal.2d 15,
26-27; People v. Brooks (2017) 3 Cal.5th 1, 58.)
III. Substantial Evidence Supports the Jury’s Finding
of Premeditation and Deliberation
Substantial evidence supports the jury’s finding of
premeditation and deliberation in this case, as all three factors
relevant to this finding are present. (People v. Steele (2002)
27 Cal.4th 1230, 1250 (Steele) [where “all three categories of
evidence exist,” substantial evidence exists].)
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A. Motive
Substantial evidence indicated defendant acted with
jealous motive. (People v. Disa (2016) 1 Cal.App.5th 654, 666
[jealousy is evidence of motive].) Tejada testified that defendant
was jealous of the men in Tejada’s life, Defendant pursued Tejada
and her male companion at close range until she stopped at a
dead end, and, in the moments before shooting Amaya, furiously
confronted Tejada, demanding that she tell him “Who the fuck is
that?”
B. Planning
The evidence likewise showed planning. Defendant knew
Tejada was at the Break Room bar, as Tejada had told him of her
plans, and defendant and Tejada were texting one another
throughout the evening about what they were doing. Defendant
took a loaded gun to the Break Room (e.g., People v. Lee (2011)
51 Cal.4th 620, 636 (Lee) [bringing loaded handgun suggests
planning]; Steele, supra, 27 Cal.4th at p. 1249 [bringing knife into
victim’s home shows planning]), and just as Tejada left the bar
for another party, defendant followed her “super close” in his own
car, switching lanes when she did, and speeding after her as she
sought to get away. After defendant and Tejada arrived at the
dead end, defendant exited his car and approached Tejada’s car
with a loaded gun. Ample evidence shows defendant’s act of
killing “ ‘ “occurred as the result of preexisting reflection rather
than unconsidered or rash impulse.” ’ ” (Lee, supra, at p. 636.)
C. Manner of Killing
Defendant’s manner of killing also supports premeditation
and deliberation. Defendant shot Amaya at close range, in the
face. (People v. Cage (2015) 62 Cal.4th 256, 277 [close-range
gunshot to face suggested premeditation]; People v. Thompson
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(2010) 49 Cal.4th 79, 114-115 [“a close-range shooting without
any provocation . . . reasonably supports an inference of
premeditation and deliberation”]; People v. Koontz (2002) 27
Cal.4th 1041, 1082 [firing at vital area at close range suggests
premeditation].)
In sum, substantial evidence supported each of the three
factors determinative of premeditation and deliberation
D. Defendant’s Arguments
Defendant argues the evidence supports an inference that
he carried the gun for “protection,” thus vitiating the evidence of
planning, and that the prosecution’s theory of motive was
undermined by evidence that he and Tejada were no longer in a
relationship. These arguments do not refute the ample evidence
of planning and motive, including defendant’s taking a loaded
gun to the Break Room, his trailing Tejada’s car at close range,
and his longstanding jealousy of Tejada’s other male companions.
There is no evidence defendant needed a loaded gun to “protect”
himself from Tejada or her male companion; indeed there was no
evidence that either of them carried any weapons at all.
With regard to the manner of killing, defendant argues the
surveillance video must be discounted because it does not reveal
with precision what occurred in the moments before defendant’s
victim collapsed to the ground. Defendant urges that the video is
“consistent with” an accidental firing of the gun after the victim
tried unsuccessfully to grab defendant’s weapon. Critically,
notwithstanding the video’s imperfections, there is no actual
evidence of an accident, either within the video or in the other
evidence presented at trial, and much of the evidence is to the
contrary. The video shows defendant pulling up alongside the car
driven by Tejada, confronting Tejada, and then engaging with
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Amaya. After Amaya collapses, defendant does not make any
gesture of surprise or concern and, to the contrary, immediately
proceeds to pull Tejada from her vehicle, swaps cars, and then
drives away from his murder victim. Defendant’s ensuing
conversation with Tejada, telling her he “mugged” the victim and
should have killed her too further underscores the absence of an
accident. Even if the video may be viewed as “consistent” with an
accidental gun discharge, the jury received abundant evidence of
premeditation such that viewing the record in the “light most
favorable to the judgment” (Salazar, supra, 63 Cal.4th at p. 242)
precludes our setting aside the jury’s verdict.
Defendant also points to the lack of evidence showing
defendant knew Amaya, and urges that “[t]he record support[s]
defense counsel’s argument that [defendant’s] sole intent in being
there and carrying his gun . . . was for protection [of Tejada].”
At bottom, defendant asks us to reweigh the evidence and come
to a conclusion more favorable to him. This is an invitation we
must decline. (People v. Alexander (2010) 49 Cal.4th 846, 883
[our role is not to reweigh the evidence, but rather to determine
whether substantial evidence supports the jury’s choices between
conflicting evidence and reasonable inferences arising therefrom];
accord People v. Werntz (2023) 90 Cal.App.5th 1093, 1117, fn. 9.)
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DISPOSITION
The judgment of conviction is affirmed.
*
DAVIS, J.
We Concur:
BAKER, Acting P. J.
MOOR, J.
* Judge of the Los Angeles County Superior Court, assigned
by the Chief Justice pursuant to article VI, section 6 of the
California Constitution.
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