P. v. Castillo CA3
A jury found defendants Francisco Castillo, Eduardo Aguayo, and Daniel Espinosa guilty of armed robbery for the benefit of the Sureño criminal street gang. The jury also found Espinosa guilty of evading a peace officer and willful obstruction. In a bifurcated trial, the court found Espinosa had a prior strike conviction, three prior serious felony convictions, and had served multiple prior prison terms.
In this consolidated appeal, all three defendants challenge the jury’s true finding of their gang enhancement on two grounds--first, the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence to support the gang enhancement; and second, the court erroneously admitted case-specific hearsay evidence concerning defendants’ gang membership in violation of People v. Sanchez (2016) 63 Cal.4th 665.
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