On June 22, 2003, 29-year-old Hispanic male Gary Brian Rodela Jr. was fatally shot during a violent home invasion and attempted robbery in Los Angeles County, California. The incident occurred in a trailer on the property of Albert Bachelier's father, a firearms collector. In the early morning hours, Gary Rodela Jr. and Ursula Gomez entered the trailer where Bachelier was present along with two others. Rodela Jr. brandished a firearm and confronted Bachelier.
Soon after, Christian Morones, armed and acting in concert with Rodela Jr., entered the trailer as well. Together, Rodela Jr. and Morones threatened Bachelier, demanding to know the location of hidden firearms and threatening his life if he did not comply.
Both men conducted searches of the trailer, during which Rodela Jr. located a gun and exclaimed that Bachelier had lied. He instructed Morones to “pull his ass out and kill him.” Morones then pointed his weapon at Bachelier, who had managed to keep a handgun hidden on his person throughout the ordeal. Believing he was about to be killed, Bachelier drew his weapon and fired in self-defense. He shot both Christian Morones and Gary Brian Rodela Jr. Rodela Jr. succumbed to his gunshot wounds and died at the scene or shortly thereafter.
Following the shooting, Christian Morones was arrested and charged with multiple crimes, including the first-degree murder of his accomplice, Gary Rodela Jr., under California's provocative act murder doctrine. This legal principle holds that when an accomplice initiates a chain of violent events likely to provoke a deadly response, they may be held liable for resulting deaths—even if those deaths occur at the hands of the intended victim. The rationale was that Morones's own actions—specifically pointing a weapon at Bachelier while making explicit threats—intentionally created a deadly situation.
Initially, Morones was convicted of first-degree murder along with co-defendant Ursula Gomez. Their convictions were appealed, resulting in a reversal of Morones's first-degree murder conviction. Morones was retried and again convicted, but on appeal, the court determined that the evidence supported a conviction for second-degree murder, not first-degree, under the provocative act doctrine. Ursula Gomez ultimately pled no contest to voluntary manslaughter.
Morones later petitioned for resentencing under Penal Code section 1170.95, asserting that his conviction relied on doctrines invalidated by Senate Bill 1437, which reformed the felony murder and natural and probable consequences doctrines. However, the court denied his petition, ruling that the provocative act doctrine under which he was convicted was not impacted by these legislative changes, as it requires the defendant to personally harbor implied malice.
The court's denial of Christian Morones's petition for resentencing was subsequently upheld on appeal. The case remains a stark example of how California law applies murder liability in complex felony settings, especially when a co-participant in a crime dies during the commission of that crime. No other suspects or individuals were arrested in connection with Gary Brian Rodela Jr.'s death beyond those tried and convicted in this case.
