P. v. Valles CA4/2
Defendant and his girlfriend, Cricket, lived in a tent with Jesus Renteria in a tight-knit homeless camp along the Santa Ana River in Riverside. Defendant was acquainted with victim Michael Carmona, known as “Bear,” and had fought with him on occasion.
In June 2016, defendant and Carmona started fighting after Carmona pushed Cricket down and struck her, after kicking Cricket’s dog. Defendant and Carmona wrestled for 15 or 20 minutes, until defendant felt he was going to have a seizure and let go of Carmona to go down to the river. When he left, “Colt” intervened and administered a choke hold until Carmona lost consciousness.
A short time later, when Carmona regained consciousness, Renteria went into a tent, came out with a knife and proceeded to stab Carmona multiple times. When the stabbing stopped, Carmona emitted gargling and gasping sounds and appeared to be dying. Renteria handed the knife to another camp resident, Peter Strother, who had observed the stabbing, and left.
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