People v. Gonzalez CA6

I. Factual and Procedural Background2

On December 2, 2020, Watsonville police officers responded to a report of a battery at a Burger King restaurant. They found the victim, Fernando Higareda Cazares, lying unconscious near the drive-thru. Officers reviewed security footage and saw

1 Unspecified statutory references are to the Penal Code. 2 The factual background is taken from the probation report. Cazares walk up to a “Chevy Tahoe” in the drive-thru line, where he apparently spoke with the occupants of the Tahoe. The passenger in the Tahoe got out of the vehicle, walked to the rear of the vehicle, and punched Cazares once with his right hand. Cazares fell down, landing on his back. The passenger returned to the Tahoe and the driver proceeded forward in the drive-thru. Cazares sustained subdural hematomas and a skull fracture, and he was declared dead a week later. Officers retrieved a beer bottle from the scene, and after collecting DNA from the bottle, were able to identify the passenger as Gonzalez. Before Cazares’s death, officers contacted Gonzalez, who admitted to striking Cazares. Gonzalez “said that the two exchanged words and he asked [Cazares] if he wanted to fight and…