2/3/21 P. v. Pelayo CA2/3
Law enforcement found 784 marijuana plants and 18 firearms on Carlos Alberto Pelayo’s property, and prosecutors tried him for felony cultivating marijuana (Health & Saf. Code, § 11358, unlabeled statutory citations refer to this code). A jury found him not guilty of cultivating marijuana but convicted him of the lesser-included misdemeanor offense of simple possession of more than 28.5 grams of marijuana. (§ 11357, subd. (b)(2).) Pelayo challenges his conviction because the trial judge admitted evidence about the firearms found at his home. Law enforcement found two revolvers and two rifles in his bedroom and 14 assorted firearms stored in a locked shipping container in his yard. The trial judge admitted evidence (photographs and testimony) about all the weapons based on the prosecutor’s representation that they had all been found loaded, which he concluded tended to show Pelayo knew he needed to protect his marijuana crop.
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