People v. Williams CA3

BACKGROUND

In March 2021, defendant learned that a man to whom he owed a debt had a strained relationship with a woman. Defendant offered to kidnap that woman in order to clear his debt. Defendant placed the woman in a chokehold, and she awoke tied to a

1 chair. Over the next three days, defendant repeatedly forced the woman to orally copulate him, and raped and sodomized her with his penis and a fire poker. Defendant brought the woman to another location, a nearby residence, where he fought a second woman and her boyfriend. Defendant had a gun in one hand and a machete in the other. He struck the male victim in the face with the machete five or six times, and both the male victim and the second woman were wounded by gunshots. An August 2021 amended information charged defendant with 13 offenses, including: kidnapping (Pen. Code, § 207, subd. (a); count VII),1 with a great bodily injury enhancement (§ 12022.7, subd. (a)); attempted murder (§§ 664/187 subd. (a); count X), with great bodily injury and personal use of a firearm enhancements (§§ 12022.7, subd. (a), 12022.5, subd. (a)); and, assault with a firearm (§ 245, subd. (a)(2); count XIII). The information also alleged…