People v. Guzman
| Decision Date | 22 April 2016 |
| Docket Number | F069165 |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. ANTONIO CRUZ GUZMAN, Defendant and Appellant. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
OPINIONAPPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Merced County. Marc A. Garcia, Judge.
Randy S. Kravis, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, Michael A. Canzoneri and Eric L. Christoffersen, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
-ooOoo- Antonio Cruz Guzman (defendant) stands convicted, following a jury trial, of first degree murder involving the personal use of a deadly and dangerous weapon. (Pen. Code,1 §§ 187, subd. (a), 12022, subd. (b)(1).) He was sentenced to prison for 25 years to life plus one year, and ordered to pay various fees, fines, and assessments. On appeal, we hold the evidence is sufficient to sustain the jury's finding of first degree murder, the trial court did not err by instructing on flight, and defendant has failed to establish ineffective assistance of counsel. We affirm the judgment.
As of April 28, 2013, Christyn Aguilar resided in a house on Valencia Way in Atwater, with her mother, Bonnie Aguilar; other family members; and Andrew Sanchez.2 Christyn's boyfriend, Carlos Belmonte, stayed there occasionally, as did Joseph McDonald, who had been living in a detached garage since sometime in 2012.
On April 28, McDonald began drinking beer around 10:00 a.m. or possibly a bit earlier. He continued drinking into the afternoon, when other people started to arrive at the house for a barbecue. Rachel Sanchez, Andrew's mother, arrived about 11:00 a.m. Defendant, Andrew's coworker, arrived around noon in his red or burgundy truck, then remained outside with Bonnie, Andrew, and McDonald. All were drinking. As far as Christyn could tell as she went back and forth in and out of the house, everything was peaceful and calm.
According to Bonnie, there was a running argument between defendant and McDonald concerning defendant's boots. Over the course of several hours, the argumentflared up, died down, and then flared up again a number of times.3 At some point, McDonald put his hands on Bonnie in a disrespectful manner. He kept touching her and she kept pushing him away, then finally defendant stepped in and was able to get McDonald to stop touching her. Defendant told McDonald multiple times, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you." Defendant did not raise his voice. According to Rachel, however, Bonnie was intoxicated and was hitting and antagonizing McDonald, and trying to get defendant to beat McDonald up. She kept whispering in defendant's ear, then took him in a room for 30 minutes. This was about 1:00 p.m. When defendant came out, he had an attitude toward McDonald.
Between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m., Belmonte was getting ready to start the grill for the barbecue. Bonnie, defendant, McDonald, and Andrew were sitting near the grill. All were drinking beer. Defendant and McDonald were sitting about three or four feet apart. When Belmonte first saw them, they seemed to be conversing. Within about 30 seconds, however, they started arguing. McDonald's voice was raised and he acted as if he was angry. Defendant's voice was not raised, but it appeared, from the look on his face, that he was starting to get mad.
The argument lasted no more than a minute, with McDonald doing most of the talking. At some point, McDonald got out of his chair and walked toward defendant, who was still seated. Standing over defendant, McDonald told him, "If you have a problem, say it to my face and we'll take it to the back." Defendant then stood up. McDonald was still angry, while defendant still appeared calm.
According to Rachel, McDonald got up when Bonnie slapped him. McDonald said that was enough, then defendant said something to him and pointed his finger inMcDonald's face. McDonald responded, "No man points his finger in my face," and "Let's take it around the corner." Defendant got angry.
Belmonte recalled McDonald and defendant walking down the driveway toward the back of the house. Belmonte followed them, because he thought they were "going to go toe-to-toe." He believed McDonald was drunk. McDonald started walking first, and passed defendant's truck. Defendant went to the driver's side of his truck. He opened the door, leaned inside, and appeared to be looking for something. He emerged a few seconds later and ran at McDonald. A white plastic sheath went flying from defendant's vicinity. Defendant had to run about 15 feet to reach McDonald, who was standing with his fists clenched about the level of his waist, like he was ready to fight. McDonald did not have anything in his hands.
Defendant started swinging a machete at McDonald in an up-and-down manner. The first blow — a powerful swing — struck the right side of McDonald's neck. McDonald brought his arms up to try to defend himself, but defendant continued to swing the weapon. At least some of the blows made contact with McDonald's body. Three to four of the swings were to McDonald's left side, like defendant was trying to get the left side of McDonald's neck. The swings were too fast for Belmonte to count, but there were more than four. They were constant, fluid motions, with no pauses in between.
Rachel recalled McDonald and defendant walking toward the backyard at the same time. Rachel was walking with McDonald and trying to calm him down. Defendant, who was slightly ahead of them, went straight to his truck and reached in the passenger side. Rachel saw defendant get something out of his truck, then saw the machete strike McDonald's face. Although McDonald had squared off with his hands up to fight, he did not push or strike defendant, or make any type of aggressive hand movement. Nevertheless, defendant went straight to the truck, then kind of ran at McDonald and struck him in the face with the machete. Defendant then "persistently" swung the machete at McDonald's upper body. McDonald had nothing in his hands anddid not land any blows. Rachel believed defendant swung at least eight or nine times. Before the first blow, McDonald said to defendant, "It's like that, huh?" Defendant said nothing. During the attack, McDonald kept telling Rachel to run, but she could not, because defendant pointed the machete at her and told her not to move.
McDonald was bleeding profusely, with blood squirting from his neck. Defendant backed away from him, then quickly went toward the back of the house and tossed the machete inside the attached garage. According to Belmonte, defendant had a blank expression on his face. Belmonte did not hear him say anything. Belmonte heard Christyn start to come outside, and he told her to go back in and call 911. Defendant ran to his truck and drove away. Belmonte did not "believe that he burned rubber, but he left pretty quickly." They made eye contact for a couple of seconds. Defendant looked angry.
According to Rachel, after defendant ran toward the back of the house, he came up to her, looking confused and terrified, like he was in shock. He asked what he did, and she pointed at McDonald. Defendant looked at McDonald and then back at Rachel, and he told her to shut her mouth and not say anything. He then left quickly in his truck. McDonald asked Rachel for help. He hugged her, asked what happened and who did it, and whether he (McDonald) was wrong.
Atwater Police Officer Dasilva was dispatched to the residence at approximately 5:16 p.m. and arrived shortly after. He located a bloody machete in the garage. He received information as to two possible locations the suspect might be found. When he responded to the second one — a trailer park on Crest Road — he was informed by a neighbor that the trailer in question was occupied by an 11-year-old boy. The boy's mother was contacted and gave permission to enter.
Both doors to the trailer were locked. Dasilva knocked, but there was no response, so he kicked in the main door. He and Corporal Echevarria searched one side of the trailer, while Detective Richards and Officer Torres searched the other. Shortly afterentry, Dasilva heard Torres yelling, "Show me your hands." Dasilva immediately proceeded to Torres's location in the west bedroom. There, Dasilva observed defendant and a boy lying on the bed, under the covers. Torres continued to give commands, but defendant did not comply with them. He had his hands concealed and the boy was a potential hostage, so Dasilva used his Taser on defendant. Defendant was then taken into custody. Richards did not smell any alcohol in the room, which was very small, and he did not observe any objective signs defendant was intoxicated.
The autopsy revealed McDonald sustained 14 chopped and incised wounds from a sharp-edged object. One wound, which involved the lower side of the face from the jaw to behind the ear, was a little more than six inches long and gaped open about one and a half inches. It severed one of the jugular veins on the right side of the neck. There were also chop injuries to the forearms and palm side of the hands and fingers. Some were quite deep. They were defensive injuries. At some point, McDonald tried to save himself by grabbing the blade. The cause of death was chopped and incised wounds of the head, neck, and arms. McDonald's blood tested negative for drugs, but his blood-alcohol level was 0.245 percent.
Defendant testified that on the morning of April 28, he was with his family at home in the Crest Road trailer park. He telephoned...
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