The People v. Sample CA6

I. Background

In the early evening on January 25, 2006, Alfonso Neri walked from a friend‟s house in San Jose to a nearby market. On the way back, he noticed a man he had seen in the market walking ahead of him on South 22nd Street. Two other men, one on foot and one on a bicycle, seemed to be following the man. The followers stopped behind a trailer to talk, but Neri‟s limited English kept him from understanding what they said. Neri saw the man on the bicycle ride in front of the man from the store, blocking his path. A few seconds later, the other man ran over and “beat [the victim] up with a bat.” From his vantage point directly across the street, Neri saw the man with the bat hit the victim in the head “[a]bout seven times,” and he heard “[a]bout five or six” additional blows. Neri saw the man on the bicycle strike and kick the victim. The attackers fled, and Neri saw the victim “try to get up and try to walk, but he couldn‟t.” Neri returned to his friend‟s house, and his friend called 911. Responding officers found a pool of blood and a few blood drops at the scene, but they were unable to locate a victim. Later that night, different officers responded to a report of a man…