People v. Cleveland CA3

FACTS AND HISTORY OF THE PROCEEDINGS

Defendant was charged with murder (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a))1 with the special allegations that he inflicted great bodily injury (§ 1203.075), used a deadly and

Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1 dangerous weapon (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)), and the victim of the great bodily injury was a vulnerable victim (§ 1203.09, subd. (a)). On February 12, 2019, a report of a licensed psychologist was filed that concluded defendant “did present on the evaluation as competent to stand trial” and “would likely not qualify for an insanity defense.” On May 26, 2020, defendant waived his right to a jury trial. At the three-day court trial, witnesses testified to seeing defendant kneeling on or near Valorie Turley and hitting her multiple times in the head with a log. Defendant had gotten the log from a stack of firewood about 10 steps away from where he eventually struck Turley. Turley died from blunt force trauma to her head. Defendant testified that he got into an argument with Turley, who was living with his roommate, and he “just snapped.” But he did not recall anything that happened after the argument. The psychologist…