A state appellate court panel Tuesday denied the latest appeal filed on behalf of one of two men convicted of second-degree murder for a street race that ended in a fiery crash that killed a woman and her two children in El Monte 16 years ago.
The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal found in its 18-page ruling that there is "an obvious and direct link" between Martin Morones' actions and the Oct. 8, 2007 deaths of Dora Groce and her two children.
"There is ample evidence that the street race he both participated in and encouraged caused the crash that killed the victims," the appellate court panel found in its ruling. "... And if defendant had not participated in the race and, by his participation, encouraged (co-defendant Robert) Canizalez to continue racing, the crash would not have occurred, and the victims would still be alive. Accordingly, the record amply supports the trial court's finding that defendant proximately caused the victims' deaths."
Morones -- in a brown Honda -- and Canizalez -- in a red Ford Mustang - - were racing north on Parkway Drive when the 40-year-old victim's Nissan Altima was struck, authorities said
Two witnesses indicated that the woman's vehicle was struck by the Honda in the back and the Mustang in the front, while a traffic reconstruction expert concluded that the primary collision factor was attributable to the driver of the Mustang, but opined that both drivers shared the cause of the collision, according to the appellate court panel's latest ruling.
Groce's Altima was pushed into a truck and burst into flames, trapping the woman, her 8-year-old son, Robert, and her 4-year-old daughter, Katherine, inside the car.
Canizalez, who was 19 at the time, was arrested the night of the crash.
Morones, then 21, was tracked down in Mexico by the U.S. Marshals Service and deported to the United States.
"He made no attempt to help the victims of the crash but thought only of himself, working to conceal evidence of his involvement while abandoning Groce and her children to burn to death," the panel noted in its ruling.
Along with second-degree murder, Morones and Canizalez were convicted of three counts of vehicular manslaughter.
Morones was sentenced to 45 years to life.
Canizalez -- who was also convicted of a misdemeanor count of dissuading a witness -- was sentenced in August 2009 to 48 years to life in prison.
In a 2011 ruling, an appellate court panel noted that the two young men "drove nearly 90 miles per hour on a 30-mile-per-hour, residential street, ran through a stop sign that was a block from their home and slammed into a car containing a mother and her two young children, who were incinerated inside."
That ruling noted that it appeared that the Mustang and Honda had each been modified to engage in such races.
A decade after his original appeal, a state appeals court panel ordered the case to be sent back to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing after his re-sentencing bid had been denied. It again was denied by the trial court, prompting the third appeal.
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