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Filed 2/9/24 P. v. Nevarez CA3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for 

publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication 

or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT

(Sacramento)

----

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.

ERICK NEVAREZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

C097543

(Super. Ct. No. 19FE020709)

Defendant Erick Nevarez was convicted of premeditated attempted murder for the 

benefit of a criminal street gang. On appeal, he contends (1) insufficient evidence

supports the predicate offenses used to prove the gang enhancement and (2) his counsel

was ineffective for failing to object to hearsay testimony given by the gang expert. We 

affirm. 
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FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Defendant’s appeal pertains to the evidence regarding the predicate offenses 

supporting the gang enhancement. We thus do not recite facts relevant only to the 

attempted murder conviction and nongang-related allegations. 

During trial on defendant’s attempted murder offense and nongang-related 

allegations, defendant admitted to being a member of the Varrio Gardenland gang, a 

subset of the Norteño criminal street gang, at the time of the offense. Subsequently, the 

jury found defendant guilty of attempted murder and found true allegations that he acted 

with premeditation, used a deadly weapon, and inflicted great bodily injury. Defendant 

contemplated admitting the remaining gang allegation; specifically, that he committed the 

attempted murder for the benefit of the Varrio Gardenland Norteño criminal street gang. 

Defendant decided, however, to proceed with a court trial on the gang allegation to 

preserve future appellate rights regarding potential legislative changes. In light of 

proceeding with a court trial, defense counsel waived the applicability of hearsay 

restrictions to the gang expert’s testimony, such as those announced in People v. Sanchez

(2016) 63 Cal.4th 665, including to the expert’s testimony that was relevant to “the 

history of the gang, including the predicate offenses.” Counsel indicated he knew the 

prosecution was capable of calling qualified witnesses to testify about the predicate 

offenses and that he was the attorney on one of the cases. 

The prosecution called Sacramento Police Detective John Sample as its gang 

expert. Detective Sample testified about the Norteño criminal street gang; specifically,

that all subsets of the Norteño gang share similar objectives and philosophies, including

maintaining their neighborhoods free of rival gang members. Further, “[r]espect is very 

important,” as is loyalty and family. Typically, Norteño gang members arm themselves

with firearms, but Detective Sample has seen them use baseball bats, sticks, knives, brass 

knuckles, and vehicles as weapons. Primary activities of the Norteño gang are drug sales, 

illegal weapons possession, and the commission of robberies, shootings, and murders. 
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Norteño gang members identify themselves as members of the gang by wearing

red clothing and exhibiting tattoos demonstrating allegiance to the gang. In some cases, 

members also wear a Mongolian style haircut. It is common to see Norteño gang 

members use hand signs and graffiti to demonstrate allegiance to the gang, and also 

showcase their allegiance on social media. 

The Norteño gang, and its rival the Sureño gang, originated in the California 

prison system. The structure for the gang is dictated by the members serving time in 

prison while younger members “put in work” through gang subsets in various 

neighborhoods, which is the case in Sacramento. One Sacramento Norteño subset is 

Varrio Gardenland. Varrio Gardenland members, like Norteño gang members, identify

with the color red. Varrio Gardenland members exhibit hand signs and tattoos specific to

their subset and also specific to the larger Norteño gang. Another Norteño subset is the 

Varrio Diamond Sacramento. 

Varrio Gardenland and Varrio Diamond Sacramento are allies and commit crimes 

together. Both subsets have a “primary allegiance” to the Norteño umbrella gang, which 

is why members of both subsets wear red clothing and exhibit the letter “N” and number 

14 in tattoos or hand signs. 

Detective Sample testified to the first predicate offense as occurring on May 18, 

2016, and involving Justin J. and Terry E. as the perpetrators of a robbery. At the time, 

Terry was a Varrio Gardenland gang member and Justin was a Varrio Diamond 

Sacramento gang member. Terry had a Norteño gang tattoo on his face and a Varrio 

Gardenland tattoo on his chest. He admitted to being a Varrio Gardenland gang member

and had been known to associate with other Varrio Gardenland gang members. Justin

had multiple tattoos showing his allegiance to the Varrio Diamond Sacramento subset, as 

well as the Norteño umbrella gang. 

Before the robbery, Justin spoke to the victim, a known Norteño drug dealer who 

had moved to Varrio Gardenland territory, about paying “taxes” on his drug dealings to 
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the Norteño gang structure. Following the conversation, Justin and Terry beat him and 

robbed him of $15,000. In Detective Sample’s opinion, Justin and Terry robbed the 

victim for the financial benefit of the gang, even though evidence also suggested that 

Justin may have robbed the victim because he was dealing drugs outside Justin’s young 

daughter’s home. 

The second predicate offense Detective Sample testified to occurred on May 14, 

2018, and involved Esteban R. and Mario G., who both had previously admitted to being 

Varrio Gardenland gang members. Esteban and Mario also had tattoos demonstrating 

loyalty to Varrio Gardenland, and Mario had tattoos on his neck and wrist signifying 

loyalty to the Norteño umbrella gang. Esteban wore the Mongolian hairstyle typical of 

Norteño gang members and was known to associate with other Varrio Gardenland gang 

members. Mario had been previously contacted by police officers while wearing red 

clothing and had admitted membership in the Varrio Gardenland subset. 

In May of 2018, Esteban, Mario, and another Varrio Gardenland gang member 

beat up a victim and took his belongings, including his wallet, while asking the victim if 

he knew where he was located. In Detective Sample’s opinion, the offense occurred for 

the benefit of a criminal street gang because of the group nature of the assault and the 

language used during the assault. Detective Sample further believed the robbery was 

committed to financially benefit the gang because the members who committed the 

offense were likely to keep the money and property they took from the victim. 

Detective Sample then extensively testified to defendant’s gang ties and the crime 

he committed, ultimately testifying to his opinion that defendant committed the attempted 

murder of a perceived rival gang member for the benefit of a criminal street gang. 

Following Detective Sample’s testimony, the parties rested and submitted the 

matter to the trial court without argument. The trial court found that the prosecution met 

its burden in proving defendant committed the attempted murder for the benefit of a 
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criminal street gang, namely the Varrio Gardenland Norteños as alleged in the 

information. 

At defendant’s sentencing hearing, the trial court struck the great bodily injury 

enhancement and the weapons enhancement, leaving only the gang enhancement. The 

trial court sentenced defendant to a total of 15 years to life in prison. 

Defendant appeals. 

DISCUSSION

I

Sufficient Evidence Supports The Trial Court’s 

True Finding On The Gang Enhancement

“In assessing a claim of insufficiency of evidence, the reviewing court’s task is to 

review the whole record in the light most favorable to the judgment to determine whether 

it discloses substantial evidence—that is, evidence that is reasonable, credible, and of 

solid value—such that a reasonable trier of fact could find the defendant guilty beyond a 

reasonable doubt.” (People v. Rodriguez (1999) 20 Cal.4th 1, 11.) “ ‘An appellate court 

must accept logical inferences that the [trier of fact] might have drawn from the evidence 

even if the court would have concluded otherwise.’ ” (People v. Halvorsen (2007) 

42 Cal.4th 379, 419.) Before a verdict may be set aside for insufficiency of the evidence, 

a party must demonstrate “ ‘that upon no hypothesis whatever is there sufficient 

substantial evidence to support [the conviction].’ ” (People v. Bolin (1998) 18 Cal.4th 

297, 331.) Reviewing courts must consider all the evidence admitted at trial, even if 

erroneously admitted, to establish whether there was substantial evidence. (Lockhart v. 

Nelson (1988) 488 U.S. 33, 39-42.) “[T]he sufficiency of the evidence to support an 

enhancement” is reviewed “using the same standard . . . appl[ied] to a conviction.”

(People v. Wilson (2008) 44 Cal.4th 758, 806.) 
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To prove a Penal Code1section 186.22, subdivision (b) allegation, the prosecution 

must establish, among other things, the existence of “an ongoing, organized association 

or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal” that has “as one of its 

primary activities the commission of one or more of the criminal acts enumerated in 

subdivision (e) . . . and whose members collectively engage in, or have engaged in, a 

pattern of criminal gang activity.” (§ 186.22, subd. (f).) “ ‘[P]attern of criminal gang 

activity’ means the commission of . . . two or more of the following offenses, provided 

[among other things] . . . the offenses were committed on separate occasions or by two or 

more members, the offenses commonly benefited a criminal street gang, and the common 

benefit from the offenses is more than reputational.” (§ 186.22, subd. (e)(1).) “[B]enefit, 

promote, further, or assist means to provide a common benefit to members of a gang 

where the common benefit is more than reputational.” (§ 186.22, subd. (g).) 

A

The Prosecution Demonstrated A Single Criminal Street 

Gang Committed The Predicate Offenses

Defendant argues the prosecution failed to prove the predicate offenses were 

committed by members of the same criminal street gang as required by People v. Prunty

(2015) 62 Cal.4th 59. Defendant focuses on whether the prosecution proved an ongoing 

organizational relationship between the Varrio Gardenland subset and the Varrio 

Diamond Sacramento subset, and further whether those subsets had an organizational 

relationship to the Norteño umbrella gang. In a related argument, defendant argues that, 

because of the prosecution’s failure to show an organizational relationship under Prunty, 

the prosecution also failed to show “the predicate offenses were collectively committed 

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code. 
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by members of the” Norteño gang. (Italics added.) Defendant’s reliance on Prunty is 

misplaced. 

In Prunty, our Supreme Court held: “[W]here the prosecution’s case positing the 

existence of a single ‘criminal street gang’ for purposes of section 186.22[, subdivision 

](f) turns on the existence and conduct of one or more gang subsets, then the prosecution 

must show some associational or organizational connection uniting those subsets.” 

(People v. Prunty, supra, 62 Cal.4th at p. 71.) “Prunty also explained, however, that this 

holding is inapplicable ‘when a defendant commits a crime to benefit a particular subset, 

and the prosecution can show that the subset in question satisfies the primary activities 

and predicate offense requirements, [because] there will be no need to link together the 

activities of various alleged cliques.’ ” (People v. Tovar (2017) 10 Cal.App.5th 750, 

758.) 

Here, the prosecution did not allege that defendant committed his offense for the 

benefit of the Norteño gang, which exists based on the conduct of subsets, like the two 

subsets here—Varrio Gardenland and Varrio Diamond Sacramento. Instead, the 

prosecution alleged defendant committed his offense for the benefit of the Varrio 

Gardenland subset. Because the allegation was specific to the subset gang, which did not 

turn on the existence and conduct of one or more subsets, the prosecution was not 

required to show an organizational link between Varrio Gardenland and Varrio Diamond 

Sacramento or the Norteño umbrella gang. Accordingly, Prunty is inapplicable and does 

not provide a basis for us to conclude the gang enhancement is not supported by 

substantial evidence. 

In reply, defendant argues that, if the gang enhancement was found true based on 

defendant’s conduct benefitting the Varrio Gardenland gang, then insufficient evidence 

supported a finding defendant acted to benefit Varrio Gardenland because the evidence 

demonstrated he committed the offense to benefit the Norteño umbrella gang. The 

People addressed this issue in their respondent’s brief. We disagree with defendant. 
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Like the defendant in Tovar, a case defendant relies on, defendant admitted he was 

a member of a Norteño subset—Varrio Gardenland—at the time he committed the 

offense. This testimony “permitted the inference that [defendant] intended to benefit [his

Norteño subset] in particular.” (People v. Tovar, supra, 10 Cal.App.5th at p. 759.) 

“Prunty observed that the ‘ample evidence’ in that case that the defendant claimed to be a 

member of a specific subset ‘was likely sufficient for the jury to infer that [the defendant] 

intended to benefit that group.’ ” (Ibid.) While dicta, “ ‘Supreme Court dicta generally 

should be followed, particularly where the comments reflect the court’s considered 

reasoning.’ ” (Ibid.) Thus, we reject defendant’s claim that insufficient evidence 

demonstrated he acted to benefit Varrio Gardenland. 

B

The Prosecution Demonstrated The Predicate Offenses Were 

Committed To Confer A Benefit That Was More Than Reputational

Defendant contends the prosecution failed to demonstrate the predicate offenses 

benefited the Norteño criminal street gang in a way that was more than reputational. We 

note again that the prosecution did not need to prove the predicate offenses were 

committed to benefit the Norteño gang because it was the Varrio Gardenland subset 

defendant was alleged to have benefitted. (See People v. Tovar, supra, 10 Cal.App.5th at 

p. 758.) We will construe defendant’s argument as one contending the evidence did not 

sufficiently prove the predicate offenses benefited Varrio Gardenland beyond a 

reputational benefit. The People addressed this argument in their respondent’s brief. We 

disagree with defendant’s construed contention. 

Under section 186.22, “Examples of a common benefit that are more than 

reputational may include, but are not limited to, financial gain or motivation, retaliation, 

targeting a perceived or actual gang rival, or intimidation or silencing of a potential 

current or previous witness or informant.” (§ 186.22, subd. (g).) 
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Detective Sample’s testimony was sufficient to demonstrate the benefit was 

financial, as opposed to merely reputational. Both predicate offenses involved taking 

money from the victims in Varrio Gardenland territory. The first predicate offense dealt 

specifically with gang culture, in that the victim did not pay taxes to the Norteño 

umbrella gang from proceeds earned while drug dealing in Varrio Gardenland territory. 

It is reasonable to infer that the first predicate offense was committed to maintain the 

good standing of Varrio Gardenland within the larger Norteño structure and also for 

Varrio Gardenland to financially benefit from the $15,000 taken, of which only a portion 

was meant to benefit the larger Norteño gang through taxes. The second predicate 

offense also involved the taking of money and property. Detective Sample testified that 

if the money had not been recovered by officers that it would likely have gone to the 

gang and the members who took it. Accordingly, sufficient evidence supports the trial 

court’s finding that the benefit to Varrio Gardenland as a result of the predicate offenses

was more than reputational. 

II

Counsel Was Not Ineffective For Failing To Object To Hearsay Testimony

Defendant contends his counsel was ineffective for failing to object to hearsay 

testimony under Sanchez. (People v. Sanchez, supra, 63 Cal.4th 665.) We disagree. 

“To demonstrate ineffective assistance of counsel, [defendant] ‘must show that 

counsel’s performance was deficient, and that the deficiency prejudiced the defense.’ 

[Citation.] On direct appeal, a finding of deficient performance is warranted where ‘(1) 

the record affirmatively discloses counsel had no rational tactical purpose for the 

challenged act or omission, (2) counsel was asked for a reason and failed to provide one, 

or (3) there simply could be no satisfactory explanation.’ [Citation.] ‘[W]here counsel’s 

trial tactics or strategic reasons for challenged decisions do not appear on the record, we 

will not find ineffective assistance of counsel on appeal unless there could be no 
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conceivable reason for counsel’s acts or omissions.’ ” (People v. Johnsen (2021) 

10 Cal.5th 1116, 1165.)

The record reflects that defendant’s counsel waived the requirements of Sanchez 

because he was confident the prosecution could produce sufficient witnesses to testify to 

the underlying facts. Counsel further indicated he was familiar with one of the predicate 

offenses having served on the case. Additionally, counsel indicated the only reason 

defendant was going forward with a court trial on his gang allegation, instead of 

admitting it, was because defendant wanted to preserve his right to benefit from any 

future change in the law. Based on these assertions, the record is sufficient to show 

defense counsel had a tactical reason to waive application of Sanchez. Counsel opted to 

save time and progress through the bifurcated trial, knowing the prosecution could call 

additional and qualified witnesses to meet its burden. Since defendant’s interest was 

merely in preserving future appellate rights, it was reasonable for counsel to make such a 

waiver. Accordingly, counsel’s failure to object on Sanchez grounds was not ineffective.
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DISPOSITION

The judgment is affirmed. 

/s/ 

ROBIE, Acting P. J.

We concur:

/s/ 

DUARTE, J.

/s/ 

KRAUSE, J.