Thursday, November 6, 2025
Page 3
Court of Appeal:
Random Nature of Bus Attack Does Not Erode Intent to Kill
Opinion Rejects Defendant’s Assertion Attempted Murder Conviction Could Not Be Sustained Based on Seconds-Long Incident During Which He Initially Targeted Another Passenger
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Div. Three of the Fourth District Court of Appeal has held that a defendant was properly convicted of attempted premeditated murder relating to an unprovoked attack on an unidentified woman riding in the back of a public bus, rejecting the accused’s assertion that the random, short nature of the incident undermined the jury’s finding that he acted with an intent to kill.
In Tuesday’s unpublished opinion, the court said that the fact that the defendant initially appeared to target a different passenger and stopped his attack within seconds did not undermine the determination that he was trying to kill the victim, who was never identified and exited the bus without receiving medical intervention.
The question arose after Gabriel Magallanes approached a woman sitting in the last row of an Orange County bus with a box cutter on May 26, 2022, pushing her head back and slashing at her upper chest and throat three or four times. Immediately before the attack, Magallanes had aggressively walked toward a male passenger but changed direction after the man looked up.
Five Seconds
About five seconds into the attack on the victim, identified only as “Jane Doe,” the defendant turned and exited the bus, which the driver had stopped due to the altercation.
Surveillance footage captured the encounter and showed Doe clutching her throat with a bloodied left hand. Doe declined the driver’s offer to call the paramedics, said she was okay, and exited the vehicle without assistance.
After a jury convicted Magallanes of attempted murder and found true allegations that he acted with premeditation while using a deadly weapon, Orange Superior Court Judge Elizabeth G. Macias sentenced him to 20 years to life in prison.
Acting Presiding Justice Martha K. Gooding authored Tuesday’s decision, affirming Magallanes’ judgment of conviction. Justice Nathan Scott and Orange Superior Court Judge Julianne S. Bancroft, sitting by assignment, joined in the opinion.
State of Mind
Moore said that an attempted murder conviction must be supported by evidence that the defendant specifically intended to kill the victim but noted that the accused’s state of mind is “usually…inferred from the circumstances surrounding the attack.”
Rejecting Magallanes’ assertion that the fact that the attack was “a random act of violence” undermined the jury’s finding of specific intent, she wrote:
“Although the attack on Doe appears to have been random and there is nothing in the record reflecting a motive for the attack, the prosecution was not required to prove why Magallanes went after Doe….The intent to kill may properly be inferred from the purposeful ‘use of a lethal weapon with lethal force…even if the act was done without advance consideration and only to eliminate a momentary obstacle or annoyance.’…Because ‘[a]n indiscriminate would-be killer is just as culpable as one who targets a specific person’…, the lack of an obvious motive for Magallanes’s attack does not negate an intent to kill.”
Short Duration
As to the relatively short duration of the assault, she opined that “[t]he ferocity of the attack belies Magallanes’s suggestion it was nothing more than a brief outburst bereft of malice” and remarked that “the jury could reasonably infer Doe’s determined resistance was the only reason Magallanes relented when he did and she was not injured more severely.”
The jurist pointed out that Magallanes “attempt[ed] to minimize his conduct” by saying that his use of a box cutter “with a short thin razor blade” was distinct from an attack with a knife that “could penetrate an organ.” Unpersuaded, she commented:
“Perhaps that fact might carry more weight for Magallanes if organ penetration was the only way to kill a person with a razor sharp object. But, of course, that is not the case.”
Gooding added:
“The video evidence shows Magallanes not only slashed at Doe’s neck and upper chest with his box cutter but also pushed her head back in an apparent attempt to expose her throat. From this, the jury could reasonably infer Magallanes acted with the intent to kill.”
The case is People v. Magallanes, G063603.
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