P. v. Pacheco CA5
At the conclusion of a jury trial on November 9, 2016, defendant and appellant Miguel Angel Villegas Pacheco was convicted of the first degree murder of his 14-year-old stepson, D.G. (Pen. Code, § 187, subd. (a)). On January 11, 2017, the trial court sentenced Pacheco to a prison term of 25 years to life.
Pacheco makes a plethora of arguments, contending (1) the case must be conditionally reversed and remanded due to alleged jury misconduct; (2) there was insufficient evidence of premeditation; (3) there was instructional error because CALCRIM. No. 521 misstates the law by describing premeditation as a decision to kill before completing the act causing death and CALCRIM No. 522 defining the law of premeditation-provocation was an incomplete statement of the law; (4) the prosecutor’s theories of premeditation were also misstatements of the law and defense counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge the prosecutor’s alleged misstatements.
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