P. v. Fernandez CA4/3
Santa Ana police officers saw a person conduct a hand-to-hand drug sale out of a passenger window of a car; defendant Marco Antonio Charcas Fernandez was the driver of the car. A jury convicted defendant of three crimes involving the sale and possession of narcotics and the crime of being an active gang member. The jury also found true three gang enhancements.Defendant claims that the People’s gang expert related hearsay statements to the jury in violation of our state’s Evidence Code, as well as testimonial hearsay in violation of the federal Constitution’s confrontation clause. (People v. Sanchez (2016) 63 Cal.4th 665, 686 (Sanchez).) Defendant also claims the evidence was insufficient to support the substantive gang crime and the gang enhancements.The trial court erred by allowing the gang expert to relate inadmissible hearsay statements (some of them testimonial) to the jury. This is not surprising.
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