P. v. Ebert-Stallworth CA3
Given the manner in which this criminal prosecution was litigated and the very unusual set of verdicts returned by the jury, we must reverse a murder conviction due to a lack of sufficient evidence.
Defendant Christoph Peter Ebert-Stallworth II and a companion drove to a parking lot to buy marijuana but fled without the drugs when one of them fired a gun, killing seller Baron Seidel. The prosecutor’s primary theory was first-degree felony murder based on attempted robbery, but the jury deadlocked on attempted robbery and returned a verdict of not guilty on first-degree murder. The jury, adopting the prosecutor’s alternate theory, found defendant guilty of second-degree murder and found defendant personally and intentionally discharged the firearm causing death. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, 12022.53; unless otherwise set forth, statutory section references that follow are to the Penal Code.)
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