People v. Lazaro CA4/3

FACTS

I.

THE KILLING

In 2014, then 25-year-old Lazaro, met 19-year-old N.G. The couple married about one year later. N.G.’s first pregnancy was unsuccessful. By the spring of 2017, she became pregnant again, but soon discovered Lazaro had a mistress. Lazaro left N.G. in May and filed for divorce in June. N.G. was introduced to Arturo Angel in August and gave birth to her son in December. Lazaro began trying to reconcile with N.G. after their son was born. By February 2018, Lazaro correctly suspected N.G. was dating another person, but she denied it. N.G. would later testify that, at that time, she was “in a way playing with [Lazaro’s] emotions because [she] was still hurt.” She then realized she pitied him because she no longer loved him. In March, there was a physical altercation between Lazaro and Angel. For the sake of their son, N.G. tried to live with Lazaro in an attempt to reconcile. She testified it lasted only three or four days because she concluded she “couldn’t be with him.” The “last day” of her relationship with Lazaro was in early August, when they went to a storage center to

1 All undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 divide their personal…