P. v. Gonzalez
Defendant was tried before a jury and convicted of receiving stolen property, providing false information to a peace officer, unlawfully taking or driving a vehicle and forgery of a registration document for a motor vehicle. Defendant appeals from a judgment sentencing him to prison for an aggregate term of three years eight months. Appellant contends his convictions must be reversed because (1) the trial court erroneously admitted the preliminary hearing testimony of two accomplices without an adequate showing that the prosecution had exercised due diligence to secure their attendance at trial; (2) the court abused its discretion and violated his right to due process when it admitted evidence of appellant's prior criminal conduct; and (3) the court gave CALJIC No. 2.62, regarding a defendant's failure to explain the evidence against him, despite there being no basis for the instruction. Appellant alternatively argues that resentencing is required because the consecutive term imposed for the forgery count should have been stayed under Penal Code section 654 and because the court imposed an upper term and consecutive sentence based on facts not found true by a jury, in violation of Blakely v. Washington (2004) 542 U.S. 296. Court affirmed.
Comments on P. v. Gonzalez