People v. Sanchez CA6

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Juli1 was stabbed to death in the early morning hours of July 24, 2010. The Santa Cruz County District Attorney filed an information charging Sanchez with her murder

1 We refer to the victim by her first name to avoid confusion, as her ex-husband, Jon Entwistle (Jon), witnessed the stabbing. (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a); count 1)2 and with felony false imprisonment (§ 236; count 2) on November 2, 2010. The information alleged defendant personally used a deadly weapon in the commission of the murder (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)). Sanchez went to trial in May 2013. The following evidence was adduced at trial. A. The Stabbing Juli lived in a studio apartment in Santa Cruz. The apartment shared a wall with a two-bedroom house, which was occupied by one of Juli’s close friends, Tiffany Lang. Jon, Juli’s friend and former husband, was staying on the couch in Lang’s house. Jon and Juli had remained friends after their 11-year marriage came to an end in 1999. On the evening prior to Juli’s death, Juli and Lang were in the house setting up for a party the following day. Juli, Lang, and Jon smoked methamphetamine twice that evening, at…