People v. Yokoi CA3

BACKGROUND

I. Factual Background

A. The Murder of Mark Hamilton Yokoi once lived with his sister Yvonne Yokoi Peralta and several others at a home on Lindley Lane in Sacramento. Peralta’s former fiancé, Mark Hamilton, previously lived there too. But a few months after moving into the home, Peralta and Hamilton discussed Hamilton’s moving out. At that time, in late 2018, Peralta was “sort of breaking up with” Hamilton for reasons related to his excessive drinking. Around the time that Hamilton and Peralta began having relationship problems, Yokoi became aggressive toward Hamilton. On December 9, 2018, for example, Hamilton joined a dinner at his boss’s house with a visible injury on his forehead and a black eye. Although Hamilton initially assured his boss’s son, Zachary Barsuglia, that he sustained the injuries at work, he later confided that Yokoi had attacked him. He explained that Yokoi had recently approached him and asked whether he believed in God or a higher power. When Hamilton said he did not want to talk about that topic, Yokoi assaulted him and threatened either to “kill him or stab him.” Hamilton added that Yokoi had also attacked him on another occasion in the…