The first-degree murder conviction for Edward James Munoz was upheld Wednesday in the First Appellate District of the California Court of Appeals.
In July 2007, a jury found Munoz guilty of the 2002 murder of single mother Leah Leister of Clearlake. The conviction included special allegations that the murder was gang-related and that Munoz personally used a knife. Leister was stabbed 17 times while her 7-year-old son slept in an adjoining room.
The appeal was based in part on a claim that the gang finding should be reversed because Munoz”s statements outside the courtroom were the only evidence of his gang involvement. The ruling said the prosecutor, Lake County Deputy District Attorney Richard Hinchcliff, was not required to provide evidence other than Munoz”s out-of-court statements.
The appeal contained a claim that jury instructions given concerning the level of Munoz”s involvement in the murder were misleading. Munoz initially claimed a friend, John Jackson, stabbed Leister. The court found Munoz committed the murder, and that the jury was properly instructed to find him “not guilty if it believed Jackson was the perpetrator and appellant (Munoz) was neither co-perpetrator nor aider and abettor.”
Also in the appeal was a claim that Munoz, an American Indian, was denied a fair trial because the prosecution excluded three American Indian jurors. The court found the prosecution excluded the jurors for reasons that were not related to race.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
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