Opinion ID: 2570544
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prelude

Text: Defendant Lester Wilson lived in Riverside with his wife, codefendant Barbara Phillips. [1] On June 8, 1997, a realtor arrived at defendant's home for a prearranged visit and, noticing the back door was open, suspected a burglary had been committed. He called defendant and Phillips to alert them. The pair arrived home and found two televisions and a videocassette recorder (VCR) were missing. A few weeks earlier, defendant had allowed Uwe Durbin, a recovering drug addict, to stay with them. Defendant believed Durbin was responsible for the theft because he had stolen from defendant before. Enraged by the thefts, defendant grabbed a gun and left the house with Phillips and his two pit bulls. The realtor was sufficiently disturbed by these events that he noted defendant's license plate number and called 911, informing the dispatcher that defendant had a gun and was a little irate.