LOS ANGELES (CNS) – A state appeals court panel today upheld a former Sylmar resident’s second-degree murder conviction for repeatedly stabbing his mother with a large kitchen knife in March 2014.
The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that there were errors involving jury instructions in Freddie Sanchez’s trial in a San Fernando courtroom, including one that was not given on whether he was “unconscious” when he killed his 58- year-old mother, Matilde, because of his voluntary methamphetamine use.
The appellate court justices noted in their ruling that “all of the evidence supported the conclusion that defendant was conscious at the time of the killing.”
“During his tape-recorded interview with police, defendant stated that he ‘butcher[ed]’ his mother,” the panel found. “He reported stabbing her multiple times. He reported that he ‘kept wounding her.’
“Defendant observed his mother stop breathing. He knew that he actually killed her. After the killing, defendant was lucid and able to answer questions by authorities.’’
Sanchez did not use methamphetamine before the killing, with the trial’s record indicating that he had used the drug two days earlier, according to the appellate court panel’s ruling.