In re Rodriguez CA6

I. Background

A. The Murder Around 5:20 a.m. on October 23, 1989, San Jose police officers responding to reports of a fight in progress found 50-year-old Sarwan Sall suffering from stab wounds on Asbury Street. The officers found a serrated steak knife nearby. Sall was pronounced dead at the hospital. The coroner’s report concluded that he died of stab wounds to the abdomen and chest. A woman who lived in the area told investigators that two men rang her doorbell around 5:15 a.m. and tried to enter her house. They left when she told them through the door that she was dialing 911. Another area resident reported that a man pounded on her door around 5:15 a.m. but left when she refused to open it. A witness placed Rodriguez’s codefendant, 19-year-old Thomas Talamantes, in the area at the time of the murder. Apprehended the same day, Talamantes told investigators that he and 16-year-old Rodriguez had been drinking beer with friends since 5:00 p.m. the previous evening and had jointly decided to “ ‘mug somebody.’ ” They armed themselves with kitchen knives and began knocking on doors, but their potential victims refused to open them. Sall happened by on his way to work, and Rodriguez…