People v. Stables CA1/3

BACKGROUND

Stables’s conviction arises from a single event that occurred during an early morning in October 2020. He and his wife were sitting in their parked car in San Francisco — his wife sat in the front passenger seat, and he was in the rear. C.S.J. and Orlando Echeagaray Rios, both drunk, walked towards

1 the car. Using his elbow, C.S.J. broke the front passenger side car window and reached inside. He then broke the rear right passenger window and walked away. Stables grabbed a hatchet from his tool bag, exited the car, and chased after him. Twice he swung the hatchet at C.S.J., who ran away. Stables ran back toward the car and struck Rios — who was moving away from the car — with the hatchet. After Rios fell to the ground, Stables struck him again. Stables got back into the car and told his wife to drive away. Rios, who had a large laceration on the back of his head, died. An information was filed charging Stables with murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a), undesignated statutory references are to this code), and attempted murder (§§ 187, subd. (a), 664). It also alleged the offenses were committed with a deadly and dangerous weapon (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)), and that various…