How have courts considered motive in the context of a murder case?

Defendant's association with the Starz gang is powerful evidence of motive. Eyewitness and expert testimony established defendant and Gasaway were members of opposing gangs, and a show of disrespect from a member of another gang can lead to violent retaliation. Being bested by a member of a rival gang in front of his friend gave defendant a motive to kill Gasaway. "A studied hatred and enmity, including a preplanned, purposeful resolve to shoot anyone in a certain neighborhood wearing a certain color, evidences the most cold-blooded, most calculated, most culpable, kind of premeditation and deliberation." (People v. Rand (1995) 37 Cal.App.4th 999, 1001.)