Valley Follow-Home Robbery Murder Convictions Upheld By Court

LOS ANGELES, CA — A state appeals court panel Wednesday upheld the murder convictions of two Texas men in connection with a follow-home robbery in Tarzana that left a 24-year-old Indianapolis man dead.

The three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense's contention that there were errors in the trial of Allen Asenuga and Michael Temitope Agboola, who are each serving potential life prison terms in connection with the Sept. 21, 2019, shooting death of Jeancarlos De la Rosa, who was in Los Angeles to celebrate a birthday and was part of a group of friends who were renting an Airbnb listing.

The appellate court justices noted in the 43-page ruling that Agboola was robbed a day earlier of $32,000 in cash, his cell phone and the keys to a rental car and that he sought to recoup his money by making plans with Asenuga and two other men to rob someone else.

Agboola was unsuccessful in his attempt to follow an intended victim from a marijuana pop-up store in downtown Los Angeles, and De la Rosa and his friend were subsequently followed in a rented Rolls-Royce from the pop-up store to the Tarzana residence, according to the ruling.

De la Rosa's friend was confronted at gunpoint and robbed, and the murder victim was shot seconds later, and his watch and gold chain were taken, along with marijuana that had been in the vehicle's trunk, the justices noted.

"... With Agboola suffering significant loss due to having been robbed earlier, the participants were in a sufficiently desperate enough situation to resort to armed robbery. Since Agboola saw Asenuga's willingness to use his firearm during the robbery to force the victims to cooperate, it can reasonably be inferred Agboola knew Asenuga intended to shoot at De la Rosa when he failed to comply with the demands to open the car trunk," the panel noted.

The panel found that it "can be reasonably inferred from the evidence" that Agboola fought the murder victim's friend and kept him occupied "while Asenuga robbed and shot De la Rosa."

The justices also cited "substantial evidence of Asenuga's guilt," describing the two defendants as "interstate marijuana traffickers who purchased substantial quantities of marijuana in California" and then re-sold it in their home state of Texas.

Asenuga and Agboola were convicted in November 2022 of second-degree murder, second-degree robbery and attempted robbery, with jurors finding true firearms allegations against Asenuga, including an allegation that he personally discharged a firearm causing De la Rosa's death.

The other two defendants were convicted of lesser offenses including robbery.

City News Service