People v. Soy CA2/2

FACTS

Prosecution Evidence On the night of July 1, 2007, four young men and one young woman of Cambodian descent were in a Long Beach alley “hanging out” and drinking. The alley ran between 16th Street and 17 Street. The group included Tha Teng (the female), Sopheap Tuoth, Sean Ny, and Dara Ork. None of them had any weapons on them. At one point, D. Soy, who was known as “Coke Face,” walked into the alley from 17th Street and passed the group. Teng hit him in the face as he walked by. D. Soy just kept walking toward 16th Street, and Teng followed him, trying unsuccessfully to hit him again. Tuoth and the other two men followed Teng in an effort to bring her back and calm her down. When all of them reached 16th Street, they turned left toward Alamitos Avenue. Tuoth managed to take Teng back to the alley to the same spot where they had been hanging out, but Ork and Ny did not come with them. When Ork and Ny returned, they were “amped up.” They said they got into a fight with D. Soy. Ork said that D. Soy threatened to come back with a weapon. About 10 to 20 minutes later, a two-door white car driven by T. Soy, D. Soy’s identical twin, entered the alley from 16th Street.3 The white…