People v. Datson CA4/1

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Appellate counsel has submitted an accurate summary of the facts of the offense which we will incorporate into this opinion to provide background. “A. THE PROSECUTION’S CASE “Bennett Hazzard and his wife Empiress Williams went to the Encanto liquor store on Imperial Avenue around 9:30 p.m. Williams went into the store to shop while Hazzard waited outside with their dog. While waiting outside with his dog, a man approached Hazzard. The man was taller than Hazzard, and he seemed bothered by something. He was talking about his phone and some money that had been taken from him. He moved his hands back and forth and punched the palm of one hand with the other. He asked Hazzard ‘hey motherfucker, where the fuck is my money? [ . . . ] Where my phone at? You took my shit.’ Hazzard told the man ‘you got me for somebody else.’ The man did not seem all the way there in his head. Hazzard called the man a dope fiend, which upset the man. The man lunged at Hazzard and punched him in the face. Hazzard took a fighting stance and tried to defend

2 himself. He backed away from the man’s attack, tried to dodge punches, and told him ‘chill, chill, chill.’ At some point during the…