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P. v. Hernandez
A jury found Defendant guilty of first degree murder, kidnapping, felony hit-and-run driving causing death, and insurance fraud, and found defendant sane at the time he committed the crimes. The trial court denied defendant’s motion for new trial and sentenced him to an indeterminate term of 25 years to life with a concurrent five-year term for insurance fraud. On appeal, defendant contends he received ineffective assistance of counsel because counsel failed to object to the admission at trial of his statements made to mental health professionals during court-ordered competency evaluations; that the trial court committed prejudicial error by failing to sua sponte instruct the jury on the special mental state required for kidnapping unconscious people, and by failing to sua sponte give instructions on the mistake of fact defense; and that the trial court improperly considered aggravating factors in determining his sentence in violation of his state and federal rights to a jury trial and due process and contends he is entitled to two additional days of conduct credits. The court concluded that none of these contentions have merit. The judgment is reversed. The matter is remanded solely for a new sanity trial. The verdicts from the guilt trial remain in full force and effect pending the outcome of the sanity trial.

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