Morales

BACKGROUND

In his youth in Watsonville, Morales had associated with gang members. He later distanced himself from the gang and, as a result, gang members had assaulted him and stabbed him twice. Morales testified against a gang member related to one of the stabbings and in exchange was placed in a witness protection program in Oregon. One day in December 2018, Morales was in Oakland waiting for a Greyhound bus to visit his family. His only luggage was a backpack that contained, among other things, a seven and a half inch kitchen

1 knife. Morales also had a butterfly knife in his pocket. Morales carried the weapons for self-defense. Morales arrived in Oakland at noon. When he tried to board a bus in the afternoon, Morales got into a fight with the bus station staff. Morales had persisted in trying to get on the wrong bus despite the staff telling him he had the wrong ticket. The police arrived in response to a call and spoke to Morales, but they took no action because the security guard did not want to press charges. Morales testified that he kept his backpack on his shoulder unless he was inside, because he didn’t want anyone to take his belongings while he was at the station.…