People v. Bautista CA3

── People v. Bautista CA3 ── Court: California Court of Appeal Date: April 23, 2026 Category: General Filed 4/23/26 P. v. Bautista CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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, C102423 Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 23FE014450) v. NATIVIDAD MANZANO BAUTISTA, Defendant and Appellant. A jury found defendant Natividad Manzano Bautista guilty of multiple crimes after he repeatedly punched and stabbed one victim and stabbed another victim. The trial court sentenced him to eight years in state prison. Defendant appeals, arguing the court prejudicially erred when it (1) relied on the same facts twice (dual use) to impose both a three-year enhancement, as well as the upper term on counts one and three, and (2) found he lacked remorse and relied on that factor in imposing the upper term. We agree and will vacate the sentence and remand the case for further litigation as may be necessary, and a full resentencing. We otherwise affirm the judgment. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In 2023, defendant was arrested after he repeatedly punched and stabbed Silvia and stabbed her daughter, H. He was charged with multiple crimes as a result, and the case proceeded to jury trial. 1  At trial, the prosecution presented evidence regarding a family dispute involving Silvia. Defendant asked Silvia about the dispute and tapped her shoulder. Silvia told him not to involve himself and not to touch her; he then punched her in the face causing her to fall backwards. He straddled her body and continued to punch her. She felt him cutting her arms using a sharp object and she tried to push him off her. H. saw that Silvia’s arms were bleeding and yelled for help. When H. tried to push or hit defendant, he turned away from Silvia and grabbed H. by the shoulders; he stabbed her under her armpit with what appeared to be a knife he was holding. Silvia tried to separate the two and pulled defendant back, bringing them both to the ground. Defendant got on top of Silvia again and punched her and stabbed her in the face and neck with the blade. Defendant ran away, leaving Silvia bleeding. A witness saw defendant in the kitchen washing blood from his hands and arms. When arrested, he still had dried blood on his hands, arms, and face. Various witnesses for the defense testified that Silvia grabbed, slapped, hit, choked, and pushed defendant, and defendant responded only by pushing or slapping Silvia. Defendant testified that when he arrived home that night, Silvia was walking in the street screaming, and when he tried to talk to her, she strangled him and H. hit him in the back. After about 10 minutes, he broke away from Silvia and saw blood on himself. He did not know how Silvia became injured and claimed he never attacked her or washed any blood from his hands. He admitted he had a nail clipper with a three-inch fold-out knife in his pocket but said he never used it against Silvia. He testified that he drank several beers that night and felt drunk; a blood test later revealed he had an approximate blood-alcohol level of 0.12 percent at the time of the crimes. Silvia sustained cuts to her back that required stitches to her arms and face; she spent two days in the hospital and testified that she was scarred and required further treatment.