People v. Hernandez CA3

BACKGROUND

A The trial court divided the trial into two phases: a guilt phase to consider whether defendant committed the charged crimes, and a sanity phase to consider whether defendant was sane at the time he committed the alleged offenses. (See § 1026, subd. (a).) In the guilt phase, E.M. testified that she had known defendant for a decade and dated him on and off for four years. Her testimony focused on the events of November 28, 2015. At that time, she was 16-years-old and defendant was 18-years-old. A few months before, the two had broken up around a time when defendant started acting

2 odd. E.M. understood that defendant had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and had concerns about his mental health. After their separation, E.M. and defendant remained close friends. On November 28, 2015, they met at a library and then grabbed food at a McDonald’s. After eating, E.M. told defendant she needed to go home. Defendant carried her backpack but, when E.M. asked for it back, he refused to give it to her and walked in the direction opposite her destination. He then told her to go with the flow, refused to explain where they were going, and asked why she needed…