People v. Ruvalcaba CA4/2

I. INTRODUCTION

In 2019, law enforcement officers responded to an emergency call and discovered

a white box truck parked along the side of a freeway. Inside the truck, officers

discovered defendant and appellant, Vanessa Ruvalcaba, alongside the body of H.D., who

had been stabbed over 80 times, including in the face, chest, legs, and abdomen. As a

result of this incident, defendant was convicted by a jury of first degree murder (Pen.

Code,1 §§ 187, subd. (a), 189) and sentenced to state prison for a term of 25 years to life,

as well as a consecutive term of one year for the personal use of a deadly weapon in the

commission of the offense.

Defendant appeals, arguing that: (1) there was insufficient evidence that she

harbored the mental state necessary for a conviction under either theory of first degree

murder submitted to the jury; (2) the trial court erred in giving a special jury instruction

explaining that the doctrine of imperfect self-defense did not apply if the jury determined

that defendant’s belief in the need for self-defense was the result of total delusion; and

(3) the abstract of judgment must be corrected to accurately reflect the trial…