SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A state appeals court panel Wednesday upheld the murder conviction of a man who opened fire on a group of employees at an Otay Mesa fast food restaurant, killing one of them.
Albert Lee Blake, 53, was convicted by a Chula Vista jury of murder and attempted murder for the Nov. 6, 2019, shooting at the Church's Chicken restaurant at 3726 Del Sol Blvd. Blake was sentenced in 2021 to 146 years to life in state prison, the maximum possible term under the law.
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Maribel Merino Ibanez, 28, was killed in the shooting, while two other employees were hospitalized. Another worker was fired upon, but was not struck by the gunfire, according to prosecutors.
At trial, Deputy District Attorney Mary Loeb alleged Blake tried to use a counterfeit $100 bill to purchase food, but Ibanez refused to accept it.
The prosecutor said Blake then left the restaurant and went to his car where he "prepared himself to kill over this slight" by changing clothes in order to better conceal a 9mm pistol he planned to take back into the eatery, then re-positioning his car near the restaurant's exit so he could easily escape.
After the shooting, Blake fled the state and was arrested later that month in Memphis, Tennessee.
Surveillance camera footage of the shooter's vehicle led investigators to Blake's car, which prosecutors said contained counterfeit $100 bills with his fingerprints on them,
The car's steering wheel and gearshift also tested positive for gunshot residue and an examination of his cell phone placed him near the restaurant at the time of the shooting, according to prosecutors.
On appeal, Blake's attorney argued the jury should have been instructed on how provocation can reduce a murder from first to second degree.
According to the opinion from a three-justice panel of the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Blake's counsel contends the argument between Blake and Ibanez, which reportedly occurred for nearly 20 minutes, could amount to provocation.
The panel found that Blake's actions just prior to the shooting showed a level of planning that didn't warrant providing jurors with the provocation instruction.
"Here, even viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Blake, jurors could only conclude that he planned to kill, making any instruction on provocation inapplicable," the opinion states.
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