P. v. Ramirez
A jury convicted defendant of, among other things, murder, attempted murder, and assault with a firearm, and the jury also found true gang allegations. The main issue at trial was identification. Before trial, the defense moved for discovery of a gang book to challenge the People’s gang expert’s credibility and expertise and to question eyewitnesses on third party culpability. The trial court denied the motion. On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court’s order denying the discovery request violated his federal and state constitutional rights to due process and to confront witnesses. Defendant also contends that the trial court improperly imposed a sentence enhancement and that his consecutive sentence violates Blakely v. Washington (2004) 542 U.S. 296. Court agreed that the sentence enhancement was improperly imposed, modified the judgment to correct that sentencing error, but court otherwise affirmed the judgment.
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