People v. Alhasan CA4/3

FACTS

I.

THE KILLING

Alhasan began dating Tiyanie “Pip” Ly, a single mother of three young children, in summer 2018. They argued often, and Pip suspected Alhasan was cheating on her. As it turns out, Alhasan was engaged to marry another woman in Jordan. That woman did not know about Pip. Alhasan was low on funds and having trouble paying his bills, so he moved into his friend Steven’s apartment in July 2018. Pip sometimes helped Alhasan with his expenses, but they often fought about money. Late one Saturday night in October 2018, Pip visited Alhasan at Steven’s apartment and told him she was pregnant with twins. The couple woke up Steven to get his advice. Steven told them Alhasan would have a hard time supporting children given his financial troubles, but it was Pip’s decision about whether to keep the babies. Steven then went back to sleep. Either later that night or the following night, at about 3:00 a.m., Alhasan pounded on Steven’s door and told him she “decided to keep them.” Alhasan was sobbing and sounded “loud” and “scary.” Steven told him to “man up” and went back to sleep. Early Monday morning, at about 6:00 a.m., Steven peeked into Alhasan’s room before leaving for…