People v. Koehl CA4/1

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This appeal involves a conviction for a killing that occurred in 1990. Koehl was identified as a suspect and then charged with murder in 2022 due to advances in forensic DNA analysis. In 1990, at age 19, Koehl was newly enlisted in the United States Navy and was briefly stationed in the San Diego area while he trained to become a diver at a Naval base in Coronado. During that time, Koehl developed a friendship with 31-year-old Larry Joe Breen, who was also in the Navy. Breen worked as a cook on the USS Fox in San Diego but lived in an apartment off the ship.

Unless otherwise indicated, all further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 Breen was killed at his apartment in May 1990 with two stab wounds to his neck. The physical evidence established that Breen was first stabbed on the left side of his neck while inside his apartment. That first stab wound was three inches deep and cut Breen’s internal and external jugular veins. The injury would have caused death within a few minutes due to the loss of blood. While Breen was bleeding profusely from that wound, he and his assailant apparently engaged in a physical struggle inside…