People v. Barrera

── People v. Barrera ── Court: California Supreme Court Date: June 01, 2026 Category: General IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. MARCOS ESQUIVEL BARRERA, Defendant and Appellant. S103358 Los Angeles County Superior Court PA029724 June 1, 2026 Justice Kruger authored the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice Guerrero and Justices Corrigan, Groban, and Jenkins* concurred. Justice Liu filed a concurring opinion. Justice Evans filed a dissenting opinion. * Retired Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, assigned by the Chief Justice pursuant to article VI, section 6 of the California Constitution.  PEOPLE v. BARRERA S103358 Opinion of the Court by Kruger, J. A jury convicted defendant Marcos Esquivel Barrera of the first degree murders of two of his children, five-year-old Ernesto and two-year-old Guadalupe, and found true the special circumstances of torture murder and multiple murders. (Pen. Code, §§ 187, 190.2, subd. (a)(3), (18).) The jury also convicted Barrera of child abuse homicide, child endangerment, and corporal injury to a child, and found true additional enhancement allegations concerning the latter two offenses. (Pen. Code, §§ 273ab, 273a, subd. (a), 273d, subd. (a), 12022.7, subd. (a), 12022.95.) After the penalty phase, the jury returned a verdict of death. The trial court sentenced Barrera to death on the murder counts and stayed punishment on the other counts. This appeal is automatic. (Id., § 1239, subd. (b).) We affirm the judgment in its entirety. I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND A. Guilt Phase The prosecution presented evidence that, at the time of the murders, Barrera maintained two families: a family of seven children with his wife, Petra Ricardo, and a family of four children with Petra’s younger sister, Maria Ricardo, who was 1  PEOPLE v. BARRERA Opinion of the Court by Kruger, J. Barrera’s codefendant in this case.1 Barrera and Maria Ricardo lived together with nine of the children in the Pacoima neighborhood in Los Angeles, while Petra and the other children lived in a different place nearby. Barrera had married Petra in Mexico in 1980. About five years into his marriage, Barrera took Maria Ricardo with him to the United States, leaving Petra in Mexico. Maria Ricardo, who was 14 or 15 at the time, testified that Barrera took her to the United States against her will and physically abused her. Barrera and Maria Ricardo began to have children of their own. The move created two families, one on each side of the border. Maria Ricardo and her children lived in California, while Petra and her children stayed in Mexico. Barrera lived with Maria Ricardo in a converted garage with one living space, a bathroom, and a kitchen. For a time, Barrera lived with Maria and her children and traveled back and forth between the two families. In 1997, Barrera brought Petra and her children to the United States. Petra and her children moved into a different place in Pacoima, near the converted garage where Barrera and Maria Ricardo lived. Barrera decided, against Petra’s wishes, that five of Petra’s children would move into the converted garage where he and Maria Ricardo lived. These five children included Guadalupe (known as Lupita) and Ernesto. Lupita lived with Barrera for about three months before her death at age two; 1 Maria Ricardo was charged with crimes including child abuse and acting as an accessory to the crimes of murder and child abuse homicide. She was found guilty of two counts of child abuse (Pen. Code § 273a, subd. (a)), but not guilty as an accessory (id., § 32). 2  PEOPLE v. BARRERA