Opinion ID: 1801857
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Fight on Saturday Evening

Text: On Saturday evening, February 11, 2006, defendant was living with his girlfriend, Kandie Sanchez, her mother, and her daughter, Jessica, at the Sanchez residence on Paso Real in Rowland Heights. According to defendant, he got into an argument with Kandie's mother, who wanted him to leave. He then started arguing with Jessica, who commented that she was going to summon her boyfriend, Ronnie Urrutia. Ronnie had a brother, Mark Urrutia, the homicide victim in this case. Ronnie and Mark lived approximately one block from the Sanchez residence. At some point in the evening, Ronnie received a phone call from his girlfriend, Jessica, informing him that defendant was bothering her. She then called back to tell Ronnie that defendant was waiting to fight him in front of the Sanchez residence. Ronnie went to the Sanchez house with his brother Mark and three friends, Carlos, Ruben and Rudy. Upon the group's arrival, defendant and Ronnie got into an argument that quickly escalated into a fistfight on the neighbor's front lawn. At one point Ronnie's brother Mark got involved, twice hitting or tapping defendant in the back with a silver and blue aluminum baseball bat he had retrieved from their car. Two of defendant's associates were also present, codefendants Avendano and Lopez. Although they did not become directly involved in the fistfight, with their assistance defendant came into possession of a kitchen knife and began chasing Ronnie with the knife, prompting Ronnie's friend Carlos to hit defendant twice in the arm with a ski pole. When someone yelled that the police were coming, the fight ended and Ronnie, Jessica, Mark and their friends drove back to the Urrutia residence. Sheriff's deputies arrived after the fight was over and spoke with defendant in front of the Sanchez residence. Defendant characterized it as a minor argument and declined any medical attention or interest in reporting a crime because he was on felony probation and did not want to get into further trouble. He did not appear seriously injured to the officers. One deputy testified recalling seeing a slight blood residue on his lip, but observed no other injuries, and no swollen or black eye.