People v. Quinnine CA1/5

BACKGROUND

A.

In 2017, Lucy M. died, leaving behind, among others, her husband of almost 40 years, David M., and her nephew, Quinnine. At the time of her death, Lucy held five Charles Schwab brokerage accounts. Those accounts were transferred to

Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1 David’s ownership—who was designated as Lucy’s sole primary beneficiary—on Lucy’s death.

In late 2018, David broke his hip and had partial hip replacement surgery. Due to this injury and an earlier traumatic brain injury, David was in a wheelchair and needed help with daily activities. In early 2019, he hired Quinnine, who was trained as a nurse, to act as his caregiver. David paid Quinnine $500 per week. Initially, all went well. However, within a few months, Quinnine became aggressive and unkind toward David.

David testified that, on May 10, 2019 (when David was 65 years old), Quinnine stormed into his bedroom, smelling of alcohol, and with a “really evil” look in his eyes. Quinnine held a metal “reacher” tool—which David used to pick up objects that he was otherwise unable to reach—to David’s throat and demanded to know how much money was in the Charles Schwab accounts…