People v. Reyes

Richmond Police Officer Gault and his colleagues conducted a traffic stop of a vehicle driven by Navarro. Reyes sat in the front passenger seat with a lunch pail on his lap. Gault suspected Reyes “was trying to hide something because he wouldn’t move and he was breathing heavily,” so he asked Reyes to step out of the car and pat-searched him. Gault then leaned into the car and noticed a backpack unzipped with a loaded firearm inside, on the “[p]assenger floorboard to the feet of Mr. Reyes leaning against the center console.” There were at least 40 rounds of ammunition in the magazine. The firearm was not registered to either Reyes or Navarro. Reyes and Navarro were charged with receiving a large-capacity magazine (Pen. Code 32310(a)), and Reyes was charged with possession of a firearm by a felon (section 29800(a)(1)). It was further alleged that Reyes was on bail. A jury found Reyes guilty. The court of appeal reversed. The trial court committed prejudicial error in excluding Navarro’s hearsay declaration against penal interest, claiming ownership of the gun, which should have been admitted under Evidence Code section 1230 and in admitting evidence of a prior uncharged incident in which Reyes was found with firearms in his car. View "People v. Reyes" on Justia Law