A state appeals court panel Thursday upheld a U.S. Army veteran’s conviction for fatally stabbing one man and assaulting another outside a Pasadena bar.
The panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contentions that Jose Antonio Santiago, now 72, had received ineffective assistance from his trial attorney and that there were errors in his trial.
Santiago was convicted last year of first-degree murder for the Sept. 12, 2018, killing of 42-year-old Jerry Chan, along with assault with a deadly weapon involving Chan’s friend.
Santiago had initially approached Chan inside the bar in the 2600 block of East Colorado Boulevard and said they had previously met, but the victim apologized and said he did not remember him, according to the appellate court panel’s ruling.
Santiago left the bar, ate at a local restaurant and then walked a half-mile to a grocery store, where he bought a kitchen knife with an eight-inch blade before returning to the bar, the justices noted.
Santiago spoke with Chan, hugged him and suddenly made a stabbing motion to Chan’s torso, prompting a struggle between Chan, his friend and the defendant in which the knife lodged in the friend’s thigh, according to the ruling.
A passerby assisted in detaining Santiago, who yelled that he was a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, the justices noted.
Santiago is serving a 32-year-to-life term in state prison.
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