How have the courts interpreted the doctrine of concurrent intent in the context of an attempted murder case?

The People argue that defendant's attempted murder convictions were "based on the legally correct doctrine of concurrent intent," not "the legally impermissible doctrine of transferred intent." Describing what also has been called the "kill zone" theory (see People v. Bland, supra, 28 Cal.4th at pp. 329-330, 121 Cal.Rptr.2d 546, 48 P.3d 1107), the People contend that "[c]oncurrent intent applies when a defendant intends to kill a particular target, and uses a mode of attack that, by *559 its nature and scope, shows a concurrent intent to kill persons in the vicinity of the intended target." According to the People, "the fact that [defendant] may have been mistaken in his belief that the African-American males [he intended to shoot] were part of the group [he shot at] does not change the analysis." In the People's view, the evidence that defendant "repeatedly fired a .45caliber gun into the midst of a group" was sufficient to support his two attempted murder convictions. Indeed, the People contend they "could have charged [defendant] with several additional counts of attempted murder, up to at least the number of shots fired into the group."

We begin our analysis by rejecting the People's reliance on concurrent intent. As even the People admit in their brief, the concept of concurrent intent "applies when a defendant intends to kill a particular target, and uses a mode of attack that, by its nature and scope, shows a concurrent intent to kill persons in the vicinity of the intended target." Here, the evidenceconsisting primarily of defendant's own admissions to sheriff's deputiesshowed that defendant's "intended target[s]" were the two African-American teenagers he held responsible for damaging his mother's van. But the fact that defendant fired a gun at a group of people he thought included those teenagers, by itself, does not demonstrate that he had "a generalized intent to kill people standing in the group," as the People argue. Just because a defendant fires a gun repeatedly at a group of people does not necessarily mean the defendant can be convicted of as many counts of attempted murder as the number of bullets he fired. The questionwhich is a factual one for the jury to decideis whether, based on the particular evidence in the case, it can be inferred that defendant had the concurrent intent to kill not only his intended target but others in the target's vicinity. (See, e.g., People v. Vang (2001) 87 Cal.App.4th 554, 563-564, 104 Cal.Rptr.2d 704 [in case involving shooting at two houses, "[t]he jury drew a reasonable inference, in light of the placement of the shots, the number of shots, and the use of high-powered, wall-piercing weapons, that defendants harbored a specific intent to kill every living being within the residences they shot up"].)