People v. Ambriz CA4/3

FACTS

One night in 2018, Lindsey and his girlfriend were hanging out and smoking marijuana at a friend’s apartment. As the night wore on, Jason Burger joined them outside the apartment for a smoke. Then Burger called appellant and Robert Mejia, with whom he had been drinking early that evening, to come and pick him up. When appellant and Mejia arrived at the complex, appellant and Lindsey got into a dispute and squared off against each other. But as soon as they begin to scuffle, appellant pulled a knife and stabbed Lindsey in the stomach. Lindsey, who had drugs and alcohol in his system, succumbed to his wounds later that night at the hospital. As it turned out, he and appellant had argued in the past, and according to one witness, appellant had previously stated he wanted to kill Lindsey. At trial, however, appellant testified he acted in self-defense. He claimed he only pulled out his knife because Lindsey was beating him up, and he never actually stabbed Lindsey. Rather, Lindsey simply ran into the knife while he was holding it out in front of him. The jury did not see it that way. It convicted appellant of second degree murder with a deadly weapon, for which he was sentenced…