People v. Tan CA3

Filed 8/16/16 P. v. Tan CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Sacramento) ----

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, C079141

v. (Super. Ct. No. 12F07161)

YANQUN TAN,

Defendant and Appellant.

Charged with murder, defendant Yanqun Tan was convicted by a jury of the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter. Sentenced to state prison to serve the upper term of 11 years, defendant appeals, contending the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing by improperly evaluating the aggravating and mitigating factors. We conclude there was no abuse of discretion and affirm the judgment. FACTS Even though the victim, Ruji Fang, and defendant each had a spouse and family in China, they lived together as boyfriend and girlfriend in the United States after

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entering the country on tourist visas, first in Las Vegas beginning in 2005 and then in Sacramento County since 2009. Defendant admitted she and the victim cultivated marijuana while in Sacramento County. In the fall of 2012, they had been arrested after the grow was discovered during a house fire apparently caused by the overuse and theft of electricity. In 2009, defendant and the victim began to argue, which family members witnessed. On October 22, 2012, defendant arrived at a police station and stated the victim was dead in the house they had shared. Officers went to the house and discovered the victim dead in bed. His head was covered with a plastic bag using duct tape. Over this, another plastic bag with duct tape covered his head down to his waist. Blood splatter was found in the bedroom where the victim was found but no blood was found anywhere else in the house. He had several wounds on his face, on the back and sides of his head, an injury on the back of his right hand, and a broken cartilage in his nose. The victim died from blunt force injuries and suffocation. He had been dead for about two days. At trial, defendant testified and recounted the abuse she suffered at the hands of the victim over the years. On the night of the offense, defendant had been crying, which awoke the victim. When he tried to sexually abuse her, she fought back. She grabbed a ballast and threw it at the victim, hitting him in the head. He threw it back at her. She threw the ballast and hit the victim many times. She thought she had killed him. She wrapped his head in a plastic bag because there was so much blood. When the blood seeped from the first bag, she wrapped his head and torso in another bag. Defendant admitted she threw away the ballast and the bloody sheets in a dumpster. She thought about leaving town and packed a bag. After the offense, defendant traveled to the airport in San Francisco, picked up her brother and his family, and drove them back to the Sacramento area. Defendant told no one the victim was dead.