People v. Martinez-Soto CA1/2

BACKGROUND

On January 18, 2021 at 2:39 p.m., several deputies with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to an address on Casa Grande Road in Petaluma in response to a report of a possible homicide. When they

1 arrived, they found Mendez lying on the ground. Mendez had four gunshot wounds: two on his torso, above his stomach and above his hip, one in his left bicep, and one in the left rear of his shoulder. The bullet that entered Mendez’s left bicep fractured his ribs, punctured his aorta, went through his thoracic spine and was recovered from his right lung. The bullet that entered Mendez’s left shoulder fractured the cervical vertebral body and lacerated the spinal cord, which bullet was recovered from the right shoulder armpit area. Mendez was pronounced dead at the scene at 2:56 p.m. Deputies also found a DeWalt folding knife at the scene underneath a nearby vehicle. On February 8, 2022, the Sonoma County District Attorney filed a first amended information charging Martinez-Soto with the first-degree murder of Mendez (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a))1 (count 1) and being a felon in possession of a firearm (§ 29800, subd. (a)(1)) (count 2). The information further…