People v. Pozos CA3

BACKGROUND

Defendant resided in an apartment complex in Sacramento County for former foster youth who were homeless. He moved into the complex in late May or early June 2014. The victim and most of the witnesses also lived there. Defendant and the victim, Maurice Lynch, had adjacent upstairs units with a shared kitchen that had lockable doors on each side. Lynch’s girlfriend, Autumn King, lived with Lynch. Defendant and Lynch hung out together almost every day until June 20, 2014, the night of the murder.

1 After moving in, defendant began to flirt with Syra Drones, a downstairs neighbor with an eight-month-old daughter. Lynch thought defendant was sometimes too aggressive toward Drones and tried to prevent defendant from touching her. According to William Felix, another neighbor, defendant resented Lynch’s intervention and said he was going to kill Lynch. Felix did not take the threat seriously because defendant seemed calm at the time. On the night of the murder, a group of residents were gathered in Lynch’s room. Defendant admitted to the others that he was drunk. When people in the room prepared to smoke marijuana, defendant offered to take Drones’s baby to his room to…