Opinion ID: 1236383
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 12

Heading: Evidence of Defendant's Gang Membership.

Text: Defendant contends that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of his gang membership because it was irrelevant and prejudicial to his defense. Defendant objected pretrial by moving to preclude the prosecutor from referring to his alleged gang membership during opening statements. The prosecutor argued that evidence of gang membership was relevant to prove the motive for the murders at Belvedere Park. The trial court ruled that the prosecutor had made a showing that the evidence was admissible and denied the motion. Defendant later moved to strike the testimony of Carlos Tostado and Benjamin Verduzco on the ground that the prosecutor had used them to put irrelevant and prejudicial testimony before the jury of defendant's alleged gang membership. The trial court denied the motion, ruling that the gang membership evidence had not caused undue prejudice. (4) Defendant argues that the evidence of gang membership was irrelevant and that the prosecutor never proved a gang-related motive for the shootings. We do not agree. The evidence established that the victims were members of a rival gang. The fact that the gangs purportedly had been at peace for seven years does not eliminate gang retaliation as a motive. Indeed, that appears to have been the only plausible motive. What we have here is a battle over turf. The Arizona Marivilla gang considered Belvedere Park to be its territory. The victims, members of a rival gang, were in Arizona Marivilla territory and were shot by a member of the Arizona gang without any other provocation. Defendant argues that evidence of gang membership was found to be prejudicial and irrelevant in People v. Cardenas (1982) 31 Cal.3d 897 [184 Cal. Rptr. 165, 647 P.2d 569] and People v. Perez (1981) 114 Cal. App.3d 470 [170 Cal. Rptr. 619]. However, here, unlike Cardenas and Perez, the evidence was far more relevant. In Cardenas the prosecution introduced evidence of gang membership to prove bias of defense witnesses, but bias had already been established by other testimony. We held that the admission of gang membership evidence was an abuse of discretion under Evidence Code section 352 because the evidence was of minimal probative value, cumulative, and extremely prejudicial. In Perez, the evidence of gang membership had no relevance to any issue at trial. In this case, the court did not err in the admission of gang affiliation.