P. v. Lovett CA5
Appellant/defendant Evan James Lovett was charged and convicted of the first degree murder of Benjamin Munsayac, with the special circumstances that the murder was committed during a robbery and a burglary. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Defendant had formerly worked at an in-home care facility owned by Munsayac. The prosecution primarily relied on a felony murder theory, based on evidence that about one month after defendant’s employment terminated, defendant confronted Munsayac at the victim’s residence, bludgeoned him with a claw hammer, strangled him, and then drove away in his vehicle. Defendant later told his mother that he went to Munsayac’s house with the intent to steal his car. The defense theory was that defendant was intoxicated and unable to form the requisite intent for first degree murder, an unidentified third person’s DNA was present at the murder scene and that person was the likely murderer, and defendant was either
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