People v. McKane CA2/6

── People v. McKane CA2/6 ── Court: California Court of Appeal Date: May 19, 2026 Category: General Filed 5/19/26 P. v. McKane CA2/6 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION SIX THE PEOPLE, 2d Crim. No. B339385 (Super. Ct. No. KA128405) Plaintiff and Respondent, (Los Angeles County) v. RYAN McKANE, Defendant and Appellant. Ryan McKane appeals after a jury convicted him of first degree murder (Pen. Code1, §§ 187, subd. (a), 189; count 1), two counts of resisting an executive officer (§ 69; counts 2 and 3), and two counts of battery upon a peace officer (§ 243, subd. (b); counts 4 and 5). The jury also found true an allegation appellant personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon, a knife, in committing the murder (§ 12022, subd. (b)(1)). The trial court sentenced appellant to a total term of 28 years and 8 months to life in state prison. 1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.  Appellant contends the evidence is constitutionally insufficient to sustain his conviction for first degree murder. We conclude substantial evidence supports a first degree felony murder conviction and will affirm. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND Evidence Cleo Mondragon resided in her son’s home along with four tenants, including appellant. Mondragon also rented a barn on the property to the victim Craig Young, whose girlfriend Kathy Rogers regularly stayed there. On August 23, 2021, two days before the killing, Mondragon noticed jewelry was missing from her room. Mondragon told police that only appellant and Andrew Cattis, a bedridden tenant, were home when she left that day. The previous day, appellant had seen Mondragon remove her jewelry and place it on the dresser. Appellant asked if that was where she kept her jewelry, and Mondragon replied, “Yes, it’s my room.” When Mondragon asked if appellant took her jewelry, he denied doing so. Previously, Mondragon had suspected another tenant, Dorothy Lua, of stealing other items in the house. Mondragon called the police, who arrived hours later. An officer knocked on appellant’s door, which opened. Appellant was not inside. Based on noise, Mondragon believed appellant was in the room when the police arrived. A window in the room’s closet was broken with the glass on the ground outside. On August 24, Mondragon found a pouch and dollar bills outside. Mondragon noticed “things being broken and turned backwards and upside down” in the house, and she had Young change her locks. She told Young she was going to leave, and 2 Young said he would watch the house. Mondragon locked her room before leaving. Young’s girlfriend, Rogers, testified that, on the morning of August 25, she awoke to Young coming up the stairs of his rental. Young was looking at a video monitor showing the home and said, “Oh, no” and indicated Mondragon’s room had been broken into. Young headed downstairs, and Rogers followed. Young entered the house. When he exited, he told Rogers “to go back upstairs, get [her] phone and call 911 because [appellant] was destroying the property.” Rogers retrieved her phone to call 911 and then walked back toward the house. She saw appellant and Young in the living room, facing one another with “their arms and hands on their shoulders like sumo wrestlers would be.” They were “stumbling around.” Rogers heard Young say, “You fucking stabbe