P. v. Mendez CA2/5
A jury convicted defendant and appellant Brian Mendez (defendant) of first degree felony murder, carjacking, and attempted robbery. The evidence at trial established defendant and his girlfriend Misty Ruiz planned to steal victim Efrain Perez-Ortiz’s money; when he resisted, defendant knocked Perez-Ortiz to the ground, pummeled him, took Perez-Ortiz’s truck, and drove over his body, killing him. Defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence used to convict him, but he does ask us to decide a host of instructional error claims, many of which were not raised during the proceedings below.
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