People v. Lopez CA2/4

INTRODUCTION

In April 2018, in the course of unsuccessfully attempting to evade arrest outside his home, appellant Luis Lopez dropped a bag containing contraband. This was witnessed by Jose R., who frequented a nearby restaurant owned by his family. Jose pointed police to the bag, and was listed as a witness in the police report concerning Lopez’s arrest, which led to an underlying case against Lopez. In November 2018, Lopez approached Jose -- with whom he had never spoken -- outside Jose’s family’s restaurant, and allegedly asked him to say hello to his (Jose’s) sons. In February 2019, pursuant to a subpoena, Jose reported to a courthouse for the preliminary hearing in the underlying case. Lopez saw Jose enter the courthouse around the same time he entered for his hearing, and during the lunch recess, saw Jose immediately outside the courthouse. Unprompted, Lopez told Jose he (Lopez) was a good person and his neighbors did not like him. Based on Lopez’s encounters with Jose at the restaurant and courthouse, the People charged Lopez with two counts of attempting to dissuade a witness from giving testimony. The more serious count (count two), based on the restaurant encounter,…