People v. Rivers CA2/8

FACTS

1. Ralph Alegria On October 1, 2012, Ralph Alegria, Gary Honkanen, and appellant were staying at a homeless encampment near the 101 freeway in Echo Park. They started drinking beer together at approximately 6:00 a.m. Alegria knew appellant from a different encampment, where he had met appellant more than 10 times. Jose Felix joined them at approximately 8:00 a.m. or 9:00 a.m. Everyone except Felix took turns going to the store and buying beer for the group. Felix was drinking the beer others bought but did not buy any for the group. They drank beer for several hours and also smoked marijuana. Appellant shared his marijuana with the group. When he ran out and asked Felix to share his, Felix refused. While they were drinking, Felix and appellant were exchanging “bad words” off and on. Alegria described appellant as “on the hot-tempered side.” At some point, Felix and appellant began arguing in earnest. Alegria thought Felix called appellant, who is African-American, the “N” word. Appellant “got real mad” when Felix called him that and “jumped on top of him and beat the heck out of him.” Felix was lying on his back as appellant sat on him and hit him with closed fists in the…