People v. Lopez CA2/8

FACTS

The victim in this case was Tony Vien.1 On March 8, 2004, Tony lived in El Monte with his brother Kevin, his sister Kacey, and their parents. Around 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. that day, the family had just finished having dinner. Kacey was in her room, Tony and his father were watching television in the living room, his mother was in the kitchen, and Kevin was out with his girlfriend, Sabrina Tan. Tan met Kevin at the Viens’ house and parked her Acura Integra nearby when they went out. A month or so before March 8, when Tan’s car was parked in the same spot near their house, someone had broken into her car and stolen the stereo. She installed a car alarm after that incident. Tony was a smoker and would normally go outside to the front yard to smoke because he was not allowed to smoke in the house. Tony knew Tan’s car had recently been broken into. He was the type of person who would do something if he knew someone was breaking into her car again. At some point, Kacey heard her mother screaming and ran to the front door. She found Tony laying in the front entrance and bleeding profusely from the area around his heart. Kacey called 911. At approximately 9:00 p.m., Kevin received a…