People v. Sun CA4/3

FACTS

Appellant and his wife Huaying “Cynthia” Chen immigrated to Orange County from Asia with their infant son in 2008. After they selected Liu as their family dentist, he hired Cynthia to work as a receptionist at his office in Irvine. Then he and Cynthia began an affair that appellant found out about in September 2014. For the most part, appellant blamed the affair on Liu, thinking he had used his power and wealth to seduce and take advantage of Cynthia. Appellant was also angry with Cynthia but he did not give up on their relationship. In fact, even after filing for divorce in the fall of 2014, he tried to reconcile with Cynthia several times over the next few months. However, every time they got back together, she ended up going back to Liu, leaving appellant feeling betrayed and bitter. This pattern played out in July of 2015, just before Liu was killed. At that time, appellant and Cynthia were living with Cynthia’s parents in Irvine, and Cynthia had just started a new job in Newport Beach. Although appellant suspected she still had feelings for Liu, he had no proof they were actually seeing each other so he stayed the course in the hope that she was over Liu once and for…