P. v. Blacknell CA1/1
Defendant Joseph Blacknell appealed from his conviction on 20 counts of criminal conduct arising from his association with a Richmond street gang. He challenged the sufficiency of the evidence and the admissibility of eyewitness, toolmark, and gang expert testimony. He asserted the trial court should have severed three of the counts related to a March 2009 killing from those related to a September 2009 crime spree. He also asserted his life sentence without parole, plus an additional 199 years eight months to life, was cruel and unusual, especially given that he was 18 years old at the time of the offenses. Except as to his conviction on count 22 (receipt of stolen property) and counts 3, 14, and 21 (street terrorism), we affirmed the judgment in an unpublished 2015 opinion.
The California Supreme Court granted review and deferred further action pending its decision in People v. Sanchez (2016) 63 Cal.4th 665 (Sanchez).
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