People v. Marquez CA6

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND1

Between January and May 2023, members of the 4-H Club2 of Gonzales High School kept animals in a locked area of the high school as part of a project associated with a livestock fair. Around 8:30 on the morning of February 18, 2023, some parents and the police were notified that some of the animals had been injured. Among the injured animals were “Hammy,” a pig who was around three months old, and a three- month-old lamb, “Miles.” Miles, who was dead, had multiple injuries to his head, as if he had been stabbed. The other lamb in the pen with Miles was bleeding but still alive. There was “blood everywhere” in Miles’s pen. Hammy had a big gash to his head and was bleeding. Another lamb had wounds all over the top of his head and neck area. The injured animals had multiple wounds that looked like stab wounds. The students in the 4- H club who came to the school that morning and saw the wounded and dead animals were “hysterical.” The police reviewed video from the surveillance system at Gonzales High School that was taken around 2:00 a.m. on February 18. The video showed a person riding a red bicycle who went inside the restricted 4-H area. Once…