People v. Lagrimas CA3

BACKGROUND

Defendant and Julia Arista, whom he had previously dated, got into a dispute about the ownership of a laptop computer that defendant had in his possession. Julia’s father, Adrian Arista, whose nickname was “Night Owl,” went to defendant’s home to retrieve the computer. Later, defendant, whose arm was in a sling, told someone that “Night Owl” had jumped him and broken his arm. The broken arm prevented defendant from working. Several months after the computer incident, defendant tried to run Julia over with his car while she was riding a bicycle. He hit her, and she hit another car and injured her arm. Defendant accused her of being a snitch relating to another matter. Julia lived with her father and several others. Later on the same day defendant hit Julia on her bicycle, Julia left her residence and went to a nearby store. On her way back, she saw defendant get out of the driver’s side of his brother’s truck, point a gun at her residence, and fire several shots. At the time of the shooting, four people were in the residence, and several bullets penetrated the residence with one of them lodging in an exhaust fan in the kitchen. Moments after the shooting, Julia saw her…