The Washington Supreme Court released its decision on Thursday. Although there were other issues in the appeal, the Supreme Court overruled the decision of lower courts that found the defendants were members of a criminal gang, in part based upon one of the defendants having Latin music on his cellphone.
On May 9, 2009, a drive-by shooting occurred in Sunnyside, Washington. As a result three men; Octavio Robledo and brothers Ricardo Jaurez DeLeon and Anthony DeLeon were arrested and charged with first-degree assault. They were convicted at trial and a finding said they were members or former members of a gang and that was an aggravating factor in sentencing. Robledo and Ricardo DeLeon were sentenced to 53 years in prison while Anthony DeLeon received a sentence of 83 years. All three appealed.
At trial, the finding the three were gang members was based on their admissions when they were first arrested and taken to jail that they were members or former members of a the Norteno gang and upon evidence of a gang expert as to the indicia of gang membership. One of these factors was the type of music gang members listen to.
All three appealed to the Court of Appeals. That court reversed the defendants’ admissions to jail authorities. The jail separates inmates so rival gang members are not placed together. The appellate court found the statements about gang membership were not voluntary; the three told jail authorities they were members because they feared for lives if they were placed together with other members of other gangs and therefore the admissions were coerced. The Court of Appeals excluded these admissions but upheld the convictions.
The Court of Appeals found the error that the admissions were voluntary was “harmless” because there was other evidence of gang affiliations. Most notably was evidence of the music Anthony DeLeon chose to have on his cellphone.
In a further appeal, the Washington Supreme Court agreed with the appellate court the statements were not voluntary and therefore should be excluded from evidence. But in overturning the convictions, the justices unanimously disagreed that error was “harmless.”
Although the Supreme Court found there were some indications the three were associated with gangs, the justices were troubled over the evidence of music [PDF]. One of the songs on Anthony DeLeon’s cellphone was by Los Tigres del Norte and the lower courts found this to be evidence of gang involvement. The Supreme Court pointed out that the group was formed in 1968, has sold 32 million albums, and won five Latin Grammy awards. Obviously not everyone who listens to this group’s music is a gang member. The Supreme Court told lower courts to exercise caution when drawing conclusions from a defendant’s musical preferences.
The Supreme Court also found much of the other evidence supporting gang membership was irrelevant and prejudicial and should not have been admitted into evidence.
The Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Robledo and the DeLeon brothers.
