P. v. Aguilar
In the early morning hours of July 2, 2009, Mary Bustamonte’s body was found in the burned remains of the motel room where she had been living. She had suffered burns to 85 percent of her body, and firefighters initially believed she had been the victim of an accidental fire. However, the autopsy revealed that she was a homicide victim – she had not died from the fire or smoke inhalation, but she suffered blunt force trauma to her head and internal neck injuries consistent with strangulation. Her blood was found on the shower curtain in the motel room’s bathroom.
Appellant/defendant Johnny Aguilar, Jr. (defendant), had been staying with Bustamonte in the motel room. When another resident noticed smoke emerging from Bustamonte’s motel room, defendant was walking away from the room and asked the resident if he had a cell phone so defendant could call 911. The resident said “no†but directed defendant to the motel’s payphone, where defendant was later seen holding the receiver. As firefighters arrived at the scene, the motel’s manager briefly spoke with defendant and asked him whether Bustamonte was still in her room. Defendant replied: “ ‘She was a few minutes ago,’ †and added: “ ‘That’s what karma gets you.’ â€
At trial, defendant’s mother testified that defendant arrived at her house. He was sad, crying, and emotional, and said: “ ‘I killed somebody.’ †Defendant’s sister testified that defendant told her that he killed Bustamonte because she was a snitch, and that he strangled her with the shower curtain, kicked her in the head, and started the fire to make it appear as if she had fallen asleep while smoking.
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