The People v. Fernandez

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, James R. Dabney, Judge. Affirmed.

Richard Lennon and Jennifer Peabody, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Susan Sullivan Pithey, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Kenneth C. Byrne, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Julie A. Harris, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Defendant and appellant Matthew Fernandez was convicted of willful, deliberate, and premeditated attempted murder after stabbing his girlfriend with a broken bottle. We are asked to decide whether the trial court admitted domestic violence propensity evidence without undertaking the required Evidence Code section 352 analysis of the probative value and prejudicial effect,¹ whether reversal is warranted for various instances of purported prosecutorial misconduct in closing argument, and whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying defendant's Romero² motion to strike prior "strike" crimes at sentencing.

In July 2021 , defendant was living in a shelter called LA Global Care. He resided in a building with about 12 other men- one of several buildings on the premises.

Defendant had been in a dating relationship with W.M. for about a year, and W.M. was visiting defendant in his room at the shelter. They were using methamphetamine and other drugs, and W.M. went to sleep when defendant took her phone and tried to start an argument with her.

At some point during the night or early the next morning, W.M. woke up and went to the bathroom. She felt sober and clear-headed. She locked the door, but defendant broke the lock and entered the bathroom. He asked whether she had called the police. W.M. "sarcastically" replied that she had (she could not

¹ Undesignated statutory references that follow are to the Evidence Code.

² People v. Superior Court (Romero) ( 1996 ) 13 Cal.4th 497.

have called because defendant had her phone). Defendant said, "Well, I'm going to take our lives, kill myself and kill you."

Defendant removed a glass bottle from his sweater and broke it against the sink. He used the broken bottle to cut his own neck, and he threw W.M. to the floor and used the bottle to cut her face and neck too. W.M. tried to fight back and flee, but defendant blocked the bathroom door and threw her to the ground "a couple times" during the struggle. W.M. estimated defendant stabbed her approximately 10 times, and she later counted at least 19 scars on her body that she sustained in the attack.

Unable to fend off defendant while he was on top of her holding the broken bottle, W.M. tried to stop the attack by telling defendant she loved him. Defendant told her to kiss him, and she did. Defendant then got off of W.M., and she left the bathroom after struggling with the door handle, which was slick with blood.

Around 5:00 a.m., a shelter supervisor and a staff member heard a colleague screaming and went to investigate. The staff member called 911 and sat outside with W.M. while the supervisor and a colleague barred the bathroom door, with defendant still inside. In addition to requesting aid for W.M., the staff member told the 911 operator that defendant was trying to kill himself.

Paramedics arrived and treated W.M. She was transported to the hospital where she underwent surgery. When Los Angeles Police Department officer Eric Darling arrived at the scene, he found defendant in the bathroom, "very bloody" and "in and out of consciousness." Defendant had suffered multiple lacerations, including "one big open wound" to his neck. Officer Darling treated the wounds, although defendant attempted to remove