Can a defendant charged with the murder or attempted murder of an intended target also be convicted of the murder of another person?

The kill zone theory thus "addresses the question of whether a defendant charged with the murder or attempted murder of an intended target can also be convicted of attempting to murder other, nontargeted persons." (People v. Stone (2009) 46 Cal.4th 131, 138.) The theory "may properly be applied only when a jury concludes: (1) the circumstances of the defendant's attack on a primary target, including the type and extent of force the defendant used, are such that the only reasonable inference is that the defendant intended to create a zone of fatal harm that is, an area in which the defendant intended to kill everyone present to ensure the primary target's death

Page 16

around the primary target and (2) the alleged attempted murder victim who was not the primary target was located within that zone of harm. Taken together, such evidence will support a finding that the defendant harbored the requisite specific intent to kill both the primary target and everyone within the zone of fatal harm." (People v. Canizales (2019) 7 Cal.5th 591, 607.)