People v. Perez CA2/1

BACKGROUND

Because the errors on appeal pertain only to matters that occurred during jury deliberations+, we summarize only the most significant evidence presented at the lengthy trial. On the evening of April 19, 2011 (undesignated date references pertain to 2011), Miguel Villa‘s body was found by a man on horseback in the desert in Lancaster. Bloody drag marks led from the body to the end of tire tracks, and two sets of footprints—one larger and the other smaller—accompanied the tire tracks and drag marks. Villa had suffered multiple blunt force injuries to the head, which caused his death. There were injuries to the forehead, left eye, cheek, and top of the head that could have been inflicted with either a fist or a blunt weapon, but an eight-inch area of lacerations and numerous intersecting fractures extending from the left ear to the back of the head would have required the use of a weapon, not just a bare hand. The deputy medical examiner identified at least nine or ten blows in the latter area and testified he would have expected more bleeding from Villa‘s wounds than the blood visible in photographs of the area in which Villa‘s body was found. A bruise on the back of…