P. v. Soria CA2/7
At trial, defendant James Anthony Soria admitted shooting Victor Avila to death in a Los Angeles alley. Soria also admitted shooting at Victor Avila’s cousin Ralph Avila, who fled the alley without injury. The jury convicted Soria of murdering Victor Avila and of attempting to murder Ralph Avila.
Soria’s uncle Jose Cuellar was in the alley with Soria. The jury acquitted Cuellar of assaulting the Avilas with a baseball bat, but could not reach verdicts on other counts against Cuellar. Cuellar thus had nothing to appeal. Soria is the sole appellant.
The parties had conflicting accounts of the confrontation.
The prosecution maintained Soria and Cuellar had gone out hunting the Avilas, seeking to ambush and kill them. The prosecutor argued Soria and Cuellar planned for Cuellar to threaten and divert the Avilas with a baseball bat and thus enable “Soria to come up behind and start blasting.”
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