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People v. Casillas6/21/2004
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.
Defendant Ricardo Casillas, who worked at the Sun Valley Shell gas station in Pleasant Hill, was charged with stabbing his supervisor, Rex Clifford, in the head with a sharpened screwdriver. A jury found defendant guilty of attempted murder without premeditation, also finding true allegations that the crime involved great bodily injury and had been committed with a deadly weapon. The court found true allegations that defendant had suffered four previous convictions of serious felonies resulting in three prior prison terms. Defendant received a sentence of 39 years to life in state prison.
FACTS
Defendant and the victim had worked at the gas station since at least the summer of 1997. About a year before the attack, defendant's work situation had begun to deteriorate. The gas station owner had decided that defendant should split his work between two gas stations. The owner also apparently had changed employees' work schedules with little or no notice, a procedure that displeased the employees, including defendant.
Defendant was also having difficulties with a woman whom he had been seeing, apparently holding the victim responsible for the woman, and demanding that the victim take her off his hands.
On April 2, 2002, the gas station owner instructed the victim to tell the defendant that his employment was to be terminated. Before that message was conveyed, defendant called the victim at home, complaining about the woman he had been seeing. The victim told defendant he wished to see him, and drove to defendant's home. They had a discussion about the woman and about the termination of defendant's employment. The victim testified that the defendant was upset, but that their discussion was not particularly loud. Two other persons who witnessed the discussion, however, described it as a loud argument, and one testified that the victim appeared to be bullying and provoking defendant.
Defendant had another argument with the victim, probably on the following day. He went into the station where he complained loudly about "that drug dealing tweaker bitch." The victim got defendant to go outside, where defendant was seen pushing or punching the victim's chest as if he sought to provoke a fight. A co-worker also heard him say to the gas station owner that he had "a piece of lead for your head for what you did for me-to me."
Two days later, shortly before 8:00 o'clock on the morning of April 5, 2002, defendant walked into the store part of the gas station and stabbed the victim behind the ear with a sharpened screwdriver, driving it through the victim's skull and into his brain. The victim survived the attack, but continues to suffer a tremor in one hand and has problems with balance. Several people observed the attack. No one heard defendant say anything to the victim before stabbing him, but defendant later was heard to say things such as, "I got you good, huh?" "I told you I was going to get you. I killed him, huh?" Defendant's bicycle was found outside the store. His prescription eyeglasses were found on a newsstand at the store's entrance. When he entered the store he carried not only the sharpened screwdriver, but also a bag containing a second screwdriver, a can of gasoline and a book of matches.
Tests revealed that defendant had a blood alcohol level of approximately .15 short
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