A state appeals court panel has rejected a re- sentencing bid by one of three men convicted of the shooting death of a man during a drug deal in Bellflower more than 16 years ago.
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In a ruling released Thursday, the three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal found that "substantial evidence" supports a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge's finding that Hector Arciga could be convicted of first-degree murder under current law.
The appellate court justices noted in the 15-page ruling that "Arciga engaged in an orchestrated plan to commit the robbery" and with his cohorts "entered the apartment armed with firearms, zip ties and a baton" in a plan set in motion a week before the murder.
"While it was not entirely clear who shot and killed the victim, Arciga was present, armed and ready to use lethal force to assist with the robbery," the justices added.
Arciga, now 50, was convicted along with Pedro Huerta Zuniga, now 55, and Francisco Argenis Parra, now 42, of first-degree murder and other charges stemming from the April 22, 2009, killing of Carlos Zarate at an apartment in Bellflower.
Zarate -- who met with the three to sell them marijuana -- was shot and another man was wounded after someone in the apartment began counting the money, in which stacks of dollar bills had been wrapped with larger bills to make it appear that more money was being handed over.
Along with the murder charge, the defendants were found guilty of home- invasion robbery and first-degree burglary.
Jurors also found true the special circumstance allegations of murder during the commission of a robbery and murder during the commission of a burglary, as well as gun use allegations against the three.
The jury did not determine which of the men shot Zarate.
Arciga, Zuniga and Parra were sentenced in August 2014 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
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