Gutierrez v. State

Following a jury trial, Eduardo Gutierrez was found guilty of felony murder, malice murder, three counts of aggravated assault, and three counts of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in connection with the shooting death of Jorge Ochoa and the shooting of two other men.1 Gutierrez contends on appeal that the evidence was insufficient to support the verdict, that the trial court erred by failing to merge the aggravated assault charge relating to Ochoa with the murder charges relating to that same victim, and that his sentence for the three charges of possession of a firearm is illegal. We affirm. 1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, the evidence shows that, on March 12, 2006, Byron Acosta confronted Gutierrez after witnessing him accost a female at a bar. Gutierrez hit Acosta and the two men fought, prompting Ochoa to attempt to defuse the situation. Gutierrez drew a handgun and fired it three times, wounding Ochoa and Johnny Orrllana. After having been wounded in the arm by the first gunshot, Ochoa then lunged at Gutiererez, and he and Acosta tried to wrestle the gun away from Gutierrez. During the struggle, Gutierrez again repeatedly fired his handgun, killing Ochoa and wounding Acosta.

The evidence was sufficient to enable a rational trier of fact to find that Gutierrez was guilty of all of the crimes for which he was convicted beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U. S. 307 99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560 1979