In re Johnson
Annotate this CaseFiu and gang members were on Fiu’s Richmond porch, drinking alcohol. A gang fight broke out. The Fiu group left Espinoza lying on the ground, apparently still alive, and returned to the porch. Johnson, who apparently sold drugs in the area, arrived he kicked and hit Espinoza, then got a milk crate, put it over Espinoza’s neck, and jumped on it at least twice. Johnson and another stabbed Espinoza in the neck. A forensic pathologist testified that Espinoza died from the multiple blunt injuries to his head, but could not say whether the first or second beating resulted in his death; the knife wounds did not cause his death. In 2009, the court of appeal affirmed Johnson's convictions for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit assault with force likely to cause bodily injury, but struck a gang enhancement. In 2016, the court of appeal granted his petition for habeas corpus, finding the conviction no longer valid after the California Supreme Court’s decision in People v. Chiu (2014), that an aider and abettor may not be convicted of first degree premeditated murder under the natural and probable consequences doctrine. The court could not “conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the jury based its verdict on the alternative valid legal theory.”
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