People v. Periman CA3

FACTS

The victim, Jeffrey Wheatley, lived on Sussex Way in Stockton with roommates Drew Pyeatt and codefendant Valerie Nessler. Wheatley sold methamphetamine from the house. Nessler used methamphetamine and other drugs frequently. She was friends with codefendant Robert Turner. Turner and defendant were friends, and they visited the Sussex Way house together on three or four occasions to drink alcohol and use methamphetamine with Pyeatt. Pyeatt called defendant by his initials “AJ.” He had defendant’s cell phone number programmed in his cell phone and likely listed it as “AJ.” Turner lived with Amber Melendez. Turner’s brother was murdered in the 1990’s. It was a sore subject for Turner. According to Melendez, Nessler told Turner that Wheatley had admitted murdering Turner’s brother. Melendez saw Turner and defendant hanging out together three to five times the month before Wheatley’s murder. She knew defendant had a black car. On April 6, 2010, Nessler called Pyeatt to ask him to pick her up and bring her home. In that call, Nessler warned Pyeatt not to be in the house because Turner was going to kill Wheatley that night. Pyeatt dropped his girlfriend off at her house, picked up…