The First Appellate District affirmed judgments of conviction. In the published portion of its opinion, the court held that the trial court’s decision to instruct a jury as to felony murder only after the start of deliberations did not violate the constitutional rights of a defendant charged and prosecuted for first degree murder with malice aforethought where the evidence at trial amply demonstrated the commission of the underlying felony and a felony-murder theory was argued as to a co-defendant.
Drug dealer Rodney Tom was robbed and murdered in his home. Witness Rebecca Burgos, who lived in an in-law apartment in Tom’s home, implicated both her husband, Albert Jaquez and an associate, Eric Ardoin, in the crimes. Ardoin and Jaquez were both charged with murder. Ardoin was charged with first degree murder with malice aforethought as the direct perpetrator of the murder of Tom. Jaquez was prosecuted under aiding-and-abetting and felony-murder theories.
