People v. Cornejo CA3

BACKGROUND

On January 17, 2019, law enforcement officers surrounded a house where Cornejo was staying to execute a warrant for his arrest. As officers stood outside the house’s open front door negotiating with Cornejo inside, Cornejo suddenly came around a corner, said “[f]uck it” or “fuck this,” squared himself toward the officers in the doorway, and pointed a raised revolver in their direction. Officers “saw a flinching motion, like [Cornejo] was pulling the trigger.” A few of the officers heard two clicks from Cornejo’s gun, which are audible on the body camera video shown to the jury, consistent with the sound of “the trigger being pulled and a hammer falling on the action.” Cornejo’s gun, however, did not fire. The officers then shot Cornejo multiple times and eventually arrested him inside the house. Cornejo was taken to a local county hospital to receive treatment for his injuries. He remained hospitalized for nearly eight weeks before being transported and booked into jail. In October 2020, the People charged Cornejo with two counts of attempted premeditated murder of a peace officer (§§ 664, 187, subd. (a); counts one and two), five counts of assault with a firearm on a…