A state appeals court has affirmed the conviction of a laborer who killed a coworker at a San Rafael job site.
Miguel Jimenez Alejandre, a landscaper, slashed his supervisor’s neck during a work-related conflict in 2021. The victim was David Nunez Sanchez, 42, of Pittsburg.
Witnesses told investigators that Sanchez had planned to reprimand Jimenez for his allegedly poor work ethic and other faults, according to court filings.
Police said Jimenez admitted to the homicide during an interview. He alleged that Nunez Sanchez was angry with him for forgetting to bring a tarp to an area where they were cutting shrubs, according to a court filing. Jimenez also alleged that Nunez Sanchez attacked him with a large pair of scissors, and he defended himself with a small pocket knife.
A jury found Jimenez guilty of first-degree murder in 2023 in Marin County Superior Court. A judge sentenced him to 26 years to life in prison.
Jimenez challenged the conviction in the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco. In a decision released on Tuesday, a three-judge panel unanimously denied the appeal.
The appeal centered on testimony by a prosecution witness, Dr. Joseph Cohen, the county pathologist who performed the autopsy, according to the ruling.
“He opined that Sanchez’s injuries were likely caused by five to 10 separate knife attacks, including multiple knife marks or wounds on the spine and neck,” the ruling said. “Sanchez had ‘a very large, deep, sharp-force injury to the front of the neck’ that reached his spine; the neck injuries severed his major arteries, jugular vein, larynx, and esophagus. Sanchez also had injuries to his right collar bone, right shoulder, and right forearm.”
Even so, Cohen “acknowledged the possibility that the victim was the initial aggressor,” although he thought it seemed unlikely, the ruling said.
During jury deliberations, the panel sent a note to Judge Beth Jordan asking to rehear Cohen’s testimony. The judge said the court reporter was not present to read the transcript, and the jury should continue deliberating while the staff tried to find the reporter.
A few hours later, the jury reached a guilty verdict without rehearing Cohen’s testimony.
The appeal by Jimenez alleged that Jordan violated the law by failing to provide the testimony the jury had requested.
The appeals court disagreed.
“If the jurors felt they could not reach a verdict without re-hearing the testimony, they were not required to pronounce a verdict,” Associate Justice Gordon Burns wrote. “They were free to send the court another note asking about the status of their request for a read back. Indeed, the jury did send the court a subsequent note, but about an unrelated question.”
Jimenez’s appellate lawyer, Marylou Hillberg, said she plans to file a petition seeking review by the California Supreme Court.
“I’m disturbed that it appears that the jury in this case didn’t get the rereading of the pathologist’s testimony that they asked for, and that it looks like they were not told they ever would get it or when they could expect it,” Hillberg said in an email. “The judge could not get ahold of the court reporter to get her back to court.”
“The testimony was only relevant to a distinction between first and second degree murder — the question is whether premeditation was proved by the pathologist’s testimony,” Hillberg wrote. “The jury also asked for a legal distinction between first and second degree murder so they were thinking about this. I thought it unfair they didn’t get the pathologists testimony read back — it had considerable medical jargon and a lay person could have trouble remembering it.”
A second-degree murder conviction carries a potential prison sentence of 15 years to life.
Jimenez, 37, is incarcerated at the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. He was a resident of Bay Point in Contra Costa County when the crime occurred.