People v. Padilla CA2/5

I. INTRODUCTION

A jury found defendant Maria Padilla guilty of one count of assault with a deadly weapon. On appeal, her appointed counsel filed a brief pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436 (Wende). We affirm.

II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

On January 31, 2022, the victim, Rebecca Patron, met three friends at the La Zona Rosa, a club in Los Angeles, sometime between 12:40 and 1:00 a.m. The club was crowded and around 1:45 a.m., there was an announcement that it was preparing to close. At the time, the victim was sitting at a table near the bar with her three friends. When one of her friends stood up, the victim turned to her right and saw defendant1 standing next to a man approximately five feet away. Defendant shouted angrily at the victim in English, “‘Why the fuck are you looking at him?’” The victim responded by holding “up both of her hands palms up.” The victim then saw defendant throw a large drinking glass toward her forehead, hitting her above her left eye. The glass shattered, causing her to bleed profusely and feel dizzy.

The victim identified defendant at trial as the woman who threw the glass at her. One of the victim’s friends, who was seated…