People v. Stoker CA4/1

INTRODUCTION

Raymond Lee Stoker, Jr. stabbed and killed Kevin Hughes. After trial, a

jury convicted Stoker of first degree murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a))1 and found true the special allegation that he personally used a deadly weapon, a knife, to commit the offense (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)). On appeal, Stoker contends (1) there was insufficient evidence to support the first degree murder conviction, and (2) by failing to object to the prosecutor’s misstatements in closing argument, his trial counsel provide inadequate assistance. Finding no merit in these contentions, we affirm the judgment.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On the afternoon of May 27, 2019, Kevin Hughes was stabbed once in the neck as he sat at a bus stop in downtown San Diego. He stumbled away from the bus stop and collapsed on the street nearby. First responders took Hughes to the emergency room, where he died of his injury. There were no eyewitnesses to the attack. Dana Jones, an employee of the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, testified that by splicing and editing video information from cameras in various

locations in downtown San Diego,2 she created a sequential video, together with a map to…