People v. Gueyger CA3

FACTS

David Ellis and defendant, both of whom were homeless, hung around together and drank daily. On January 13, 2012, the two had been drinking and were at a Del Taco restaurant. Defendant showed Ellis a hunting knife he carried, and, in turn, Ellis showed defendant a dagger he carried. Defendant bought Ellis’s dagger for $5. Defendant set his hunting knife on the table and walked away. Ellis took the hunting knife and put it in his sock. When defendant returned he asked Ellis if he had the hunting knife and Ellis replied that he did not. With Ellis’s consent, defendant searched him and found the knife. Defendant unsheathed the knife and lunged at Ellis, calling him a thief, and stabbed him in the neck. Ellis went inside the Del Taco and called 911, and defendant left the scene. Not wanting to be labeled a “snitch,” Ellis told the 911 operator he did not know who had stabbed him, but he gave the fire department personnel and police who arrived a description that matched defendant. The stabbing cut Ellis’s external jugular vein, requiring surgery and three days in the hospital. Mary Trejo and Scott Rasmussen, both of whom were homeless and had several prior convictions, saw and…