People v. Perez CA1/5

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Perez was charged in an information with aggravated mayhem (Pen. Code, § 205), torture (§ 206), assault on a child causing death (§ 273ab), murder (§ 187, subd. (a)), and

1 two counts of child abuse (§ 273a, subd. (a)).1 The second child abuse count alleged that Perez inflicted great bodily injury on a child under the age of five. (§ 12022.7, subd. (d).) The matter proceeded to a jury trial. A. Prosecution Case The prosecution produced evidence that Perez abused two children left in his care by different mothers on separate occasions. 1. Injuries to K.G. N.B. is the mother of victim K.G., a girl born in June 2004, and T.B., a boy born in 2002. N.B. broke up with the children’s father, and the children were removed from her care so she could attend to personal issues, including drug and alcohol counseling. In 2006, N.B. married Perez and began caring for her children on weekends. N.B. and Perez lived in a house on Melbourne Avenue in Hayward with Perez’s father (Rigoberto), brother, and cousin. In January 2007, N.B. began a 30-day trial reunification with K.G. and T.G. a. K.G.’s bruises and head injury One day in January 2007, N.B. left her…