People v. Valdovinos CA2/1

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

The evidence against Valdovinos came primarily from two sources: surveillance video from a nearby business that did not capture the murder but showed Valdovinos’s movements just before and after it; and statements by Priscilla Henriquez, who lived in the La Puente neighborhood where the killing occurred, spent the evening with Valdovinos, and told sheriff’s department detectives she saw him stab Abrao. Henriquez invoked her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and did not testify at trial, but the prosecution introduced a recording of her interview with the detectives, as well as a transcript of her testimony at the preliminary hearing. Henriquez and Valdovinos spent several hours together on the night of the murder. At some point after 4:00 a.m., she told

1 Unless otherwise specified, subsequent statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 him that she was tired and her head was hurting. The two sat down on a planter bed facing the sidewalk in front of a donut shop. A homeless man, later identified as Abrao, was lying down asleep nearby with his belongings, including a bicycle. There was no evidence that Valdovinos had ever met…