People v. Cortez

Opinion

CHIN, J.

While riding in a car driven by defendant Norma Lilian Cortez (defendant), Rodrigo Bernal fired five or six shots at 19-year-old Emanuel Z. and 16-year-old Miguel Guzman, killing the latter. In a joint trial, a jury convicted defendant and Bernal of premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder. The Court of Appeal unanimously affirmed Bernal’s convictions. However, in a divided opinion, it reversed defendant’s convictions based on the following: (1) the giving of CALCRIM No. 361, which instructed jurors that, in evaluating the evidence against a testifying defendant,…