People v. Ortega CA4/3

FACTS & PROCEDURE

In the early morning hours on March 3, 2009, Rick Sharpski was brutally attacked outside his apartment complex by a machete-wielding assailant. The prosecution’s case, in a nutshell, was that the attacker was Ortega, who was trying to kill Sharpski at the behest of Sharpski’s wife Mary Sharpski (Mary) and Ortega’s close friend Michael Shores. Shores lived with the Sharpskis, and he and Mary were romantically involved. Prosecution Case Before sunrise on March 3, 2009, Tung Vo was opening his business located next to the Valley Park Apartments in Fountain Valley where Sharpski and his family lived. He heard someone moaning from the other side of the wall. Vo and a co-worker ran toward the complex. He saw a person using a stick-like object continuously hitting someone lying on the ground. Vo yelled out to stop and that he was going to call police, and the man with the stick ran off toward the apartment complex. The man with the stick was wearing dark clothing. Vo called 911. Apartment complex resident Brian Michael Olsen woke up that morning around 5:30 to the sound of somebody screaming for help. He looked out his window and although it was still dark, he could…