People v. Omega CA3

FACTS

The following facts are taken from our prior, unpublished opinion affirming defendant’s conviction on appeal. (Omega, supra, C085437.) “Pete Thomas and his brother Byron, both retired, lived on 26 acres outside of Placerville.3 Byron and his son lived in a house on the property, while Pete lived in a trailer. The brothers had been close, but after his retirement Pete became very involved with drugs, harming the brothers’ relationship. “Pete was kind hearted and helped others. He was generous and Byron believed others took advantage of him. Conflict between the brothers arose over Pete’s ‘drug friends’ who came over at all hours; some tried to move in with Pete, straining the property’s limited water supply. One of those friends was codefendant Weed, who had written Pete letters while she was in jail. The last time Byron saw his brother, Pete was driving off with Weed, who had just been released from jail. “Pete owned several guns, including an unregistered Glock handgun he claimed he had found in Arkansas. He also had a coin collection, jewelry, a laptop computer, and a cell phone.

To avoid confusion, we refer to the Thomas brothers by their first names.

3 “On…