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People v. Trejo

California Court of Appeals, Second District, Third Division
Dec 7, 2021
No. B304686 (Cal. Ct. App. Dec. 7, 2021)

Opinion

B304686

12-07-2021

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JUAN TREJO, Defendant and Appellant.

Jenny M. Brandt, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.


NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, No. PA020848 Hayden A. Zacky, Judge. Dismissed as moot.

Jenny M. Brandt, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.

LAVIN, J.

INTRODUCTION

Juan Trejo was convicted by jury of second degree murder, attempted murder, and assault with a firearm. The jury found true the allegations that a principal used a firearm during each offense. The trial court sentenced Trejo to 16 years to life in state prison. A different panel of this court affirmed the judgment in 1998. (People v. Rivera and Trejo (Sept. 24, 1998, B108281) [nonpub. opn.] (Trejo I).) In this appeal, Trejo challenges the trial court's January 22, 2020 order denying his petition for resentencing under Penal Code section 1170.95. Trejo's appeal, however, has been rendered moot by our limited remand and the trial court's subsequent September 13, 2021 order. Accordingly, we dismiss the appeal.

All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

BACKGROUND

On September 30, 2020, Trejo asked us to take judicial notice of the record and the opinion in his direct appeal, and he relies on the facts set forth in Trejo I in his brief. We granted his request on October 27, 2020. Our summary of the underlying facts is taken from the opinion in Trejo I.

Mainor Rivera and Trejo were members of the Mara Salvatrucha (M.S.) gang. M.S. and the Langdon Street gang were rivals. Both operated in the Sepulveda area of the City of Los Angeles near Langdon and Nordhoff. The gangs, which had a common "border," were enemies.

At about 6:30 p.m. on June 25, 1994, Israel Pinedo and Albert Aceves, members of the rival Langdon Street gang, were with other members of their gang near the gangs' common border on Langdon and Nordhoff. A white car with a black stripe and tinted windows slowly approached the group of Langdon Street gang members. Pinedo and his friends yelled "Langdon." Rivera, who was a passenger in the car, stuck a gun out of the window and fired it three times in rapid succession. Pinedo was hit by one of the bullets, which passed completely through his left side. Aceves was struck by a bullet, fatally shot in the torso. After the shots were fired, Pinedo heard Rivera call out "M.S."

Anita Ruiz and her boyfriend Marcelino Garcia were driving westbound on Nordhoff, approaching Langdon when they heard gunshots. Garcia saw a passenger in a car pull a gun back into that vehicle and a group of males dropping to the ground. The gunman was holding the gun in his right hand. Garcia and Ruiz followed the white Toyota carrying the shooter onto the freeway, pulled up to the car and recorded its license plate number. When the car left the freeway, Ruiz got a look at the driver. She described him as having short hair or a shaved head. The passenger had "shaved hair" and a build similar to that of Rivera. Both were Hispanic. Pinedo positively identified Rivera as the person who had fired the gun. A photograph seized at Rivera's residence showed him holding a weapon that could have fired the bullets that killed Aceves and wounded Pinedo.

The police tracked down and contacted the registered owner of the car used in the shootings, Mario Lopez. Lopez told them his wife's cousin, Trejo, had borrowed the car on the date of the shootings and had not returned until after 8 p.m. Trejo admitted to the police that he had been driving his cousin's car on the evening of the shootings.

Following a jury trial, Trejo was convicted in 1997 of one count of second degree murder, one count of premeditated attempted murder, and one count of assault with a firearm on a person. The jury found true the allegations that a principal used a gun during each offense. Trejo was sentenced to an aggregate term of 16 years to life in state prison.

On December 20, 2019, Trejo filed a petition for resentencing under section 1170.95 and requested the appointment of counsel. On January 22, 2020, the trial court summarily denied the petition without appointing counsel. Trejo filed a timely notice of appeal from the order, and we appointed counsel to represent him.

On September 30, 2020, appointed counsel filed a brief in which counsel raised no issues and asked us to review the record independently under People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende). On the same date, this court notified Trejo that his attorney had failed to find any arguable issues and that he could submit by brief or letter any arguments he wished this court to consider. We have not received a response from Trejo.

On January 29, 2021, we granted Trejo's motion to stay the appeal and for a limited remand to allow him to seek relief under section 1170.95. After the matter was remanded, Trejo filed a supplemental petition for resentencing under section 1170.95 and requested the appointment of counsel. On March 18, 2021, the trial court appointed counsel to represent Trejo. After receiving briefing from the People and Trejo's counsel, the trial court entered an order on September 13, 2021 denying Trejo's supplemental petition. The trial court's September 2021 order denying his supplemental petition is challenged by Trejo in subsequently-filed appeal No. B315208 (filed September 20, 2021); that appeal is pending.

After augmenting the record at Trejo's request, this court lifted the stay and directed Trejo's counsel to file a new appellant's opening brief and move to strike the Wende brief filed on September 30, 2020, or notify us that counsel wishes to proceed under the previously-filed Wende brief. On November 29, 2021, Trejo's counsel informed us that counsel wishes to proceed under the previously-filed Wende brief.

DISCUSSION

An appeal is rendered moot when subsequent events render the appellate court incapable of granting effective relief. (Vernon v. State of California (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 114, 120.) Here, Trejo's appeal from the January 22, 2020 order denying his petition for resentencing has been rendered moot by our limited remand, the trial court's subsequent appointment of counsel for Trejo, the trial court's September 13, 2021 order denying Trejo's supplemental petition, and Trejo's appeal from the September 13, 2021 order. Put differently, the January 22, 2020 order challenged in this appeal has been superseded by the September 13, 2021 order and that order is challenged in a different appeal.

We have examined the entire record, and are satisfied appellate counsel has fully complied with counsel's responsibilities and no arguable issues exist in the appeal before us. (Smith v. Robbins (2000) 528 U.S. 259, 278-284; Wende, supra, 25 Cal.3d at p. 443.)

DISPOSITION

The appeal from the January 22, 2020 order is dismissed.

WE CONCUR: EDMON, P. J., EGERTON, J.


Summaries of

People v. Trejo

California Court of Appeals, Second District, Third Division
Dec 7, 2021
No. B304686 (Cal. Ct. App. Dec. 7, 2021)
Case details for

People v. Trejo

Case Details

Full title:THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. JUAN TREJO, Defendant and…

Court:California Court of Appeals, Second District, Third Division

Date published: Dec 7, 2021

Citations

No. B304686 (Cal. Ct. App. Dec. 7, 2021)

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