P. v. Cardenas CA2/3
Defendant and appellant Melanie Vanessa Cardenas was Azteca America’s payroll manager. Based on allegations that Cardenas diverted Azteca funds to herself and to the other defendants and appellants—Marlin Alarcon Najarro, Jazmin Garcia Moreno, Alberto Eduardo Garcia Moreno and Guadalupe Pilar Castaneda—defendants were charged with and found guilty of, among other things, receiving stolen property. They all appeal, contending that a severance motion should have been granted, the prosecutor violated Brady, evidentiary errors prejudiced them, the prosecutor engaged in pervasive misconduct, there was insufficient evidence to support the judgments, and the jury instructions lowered the burden of proof. We reject all contentions except one: Cardenas and Najarro could not be convicted of and sentenced on grand theft and on receiving stolen property, and we therefore reverse their convictions for receiving stolen property. We otherwise affirm the judgments as to them and the other
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