People v. Vega CA1/4

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Guilt Phase of the Trial Background of the Offense Vega met Angel Vegas (Angel) shortly after he returned from Iraq, and they became and remained a couple for some seven years thereafter. They had a son together in 2009 named L. Early in their relationship they stayed in Angel’s parents’ home in Vallejo for approximately three years. Angel’s father, Augustine, was a Richmond police officer. Her mother, Sandra Vegas (Sandra), became like a mother to Vega. Vega loved and admired Augustine, who helped him get into the police academy, from which Vega graduated with honors, although he was never hired by a police agency. Vega called Sandra “Mom” and Augustine “Pops.”

2 Angel and Vega lived with her parents until approximately 2012, when they got their own apartment. By the time of the events in this case, they had separated but were coparenting their son and remained on good terms. Vega had his own apartment in Fairfield, and Angel had gone back to live with her parents in Vallejo. Vega visited Angel and her family about three times a week, often staying for dinner. For a few days before the killing, Vega had been hallucinating voices of what he thought were his…