People v. Arriaga CA6

I. BACKGROUND

A. Brief Summary of the Offenses2

In August 2017, Courtney Ann Turney was found dead in an apartment shared by Arriaga and Manuel Jesus Lopez Jarquin. Before Turney’s death, Arriaga had been restricting Turney’s access to food and water, which resulted in Turney becoming malnourished and dehydrated to the point of sometimes consuming birdseed and nonfood items like cleaning products. Arriaga inflicted physical abuse on Turney and deposited checks made out to Turney. Only Arriaga and Lopez Jarquin had the key to unlock the front door of the apartment, and Turney had been unable to leave. B. The Information and Arriaga’s Plea

In February 2019, Arriaga was charged by information with willful, deliberate, and premeditated murder (§ 187, subd. (a)) with a torture-murder special circumstance (§ 190.2, subd. (a)(18)), torture (§ 206), human trafficking (§ 236.1, subd. (a)) with an allegation of great bodily injury (§ 236.4, subd. (b)), false imprisonment (§ 368, subd. (f)) with an enhancement for great bodily injury (§ 12022.7, subd. (a)), and three counts of theft from an elder or dependent adult (§ 368, subd. (d)). In August 2019, Arriaga pleaded no contest…