People v. Alvarez CA2/6

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Prosecution Appellant and A.R. met in January 2020 and began dating. In the early morning hours of May 6, 2020, Ventura County Deputy Sheriff Conrad Meadows and his partner were dispatched to appellant’s apartment regarding a noise complaint. The deputies entered the apartment and saw appellant, his mother Columba Ceja, and his sister L., who was 17 at the time of trial. While searching the apartment for other people, Deputy Meadows opened a downstairs bathroom door and saw A.R. inside the bathroom. A.R. had bruises and scratch marks on her chest, her nose was bleeding, and blood was on the bathroom wall. When asked about her injuries, A.R. said she had been pushed into a wall as she and Ceja attempted to physically restrain appellant, who was highly intoxicated, from leaving the apartment. In phone calls appellant made to A.R. from jail after his arrest, A.R. said “you kinda like uppercutted me” and “got my fuckin’ nose and my lip.” At trial, A.R. testified that she and appellant had been drinking on the night of the incident and that her injuries were the result of a fall on the stairs outside appellant’s apartment as she attempted to help appellant when he…