People v. Valdez CA4/2

I.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Starr was acquainted with defendant from an old job and the two hung out at least

once. On September 26, 2019, at approximately 3:00 a.m., Starr and her friends Emma

and Chayah were hanging out with defendant and his friend or cousin, Mario, at an

apartment in Bermuda Dunes. At some point, Starr saw a gun in defendant’s truck.

Defendant told her he was “not gonna do anything with it.” Later, defendant told Chayah

that Starr was upset because he had a gun in the truck. He also told Chayah he was not

going to use the gun. The young women shared a six-pack of Smirnoff drinks at the

apartment, and, eventually, the group all left in defendant’s truck to go and buy more

alcohol. Defendant drove.

Chayah and Mario were joking around with each other during the drive, and

defendant got upset and told Chayah to stop talking to his cousin like that. Defendant

and Chayah began to argue and were “kind of going at it.” He told the women they

“need[ed] some discipline” and began driving toward the desert instead of the store as

originally planned. The women asked defendant to slow down to no avail. They also

asked to be let out of the truck, but…