Opinion ID: 1172635
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Gang Experts

Text: (7) Defendant never sought at trial to challenge the qualifications of the prosecution's gang experts, and it is too late to raise the issue now. ( People v. Roberts (1992) 2 Cal.4th 271, 298 [6 Cal. Rptr.2d 276, 826 P.2d 274].) In fact, defense counsel conceded that police officers can give expert testimony concerning gangs. Nevertheless, defendant argues on appeal that Officers Johnson, Holmes and Mejia were not, under Evidence Code section 720, qualified to testify as gang experts. Even if cognizable, the contention lacks merit. Admissible expert opinion must be based on matter that reasonably may be relied upon by an expert in forming an opinion on the subject to which his opinion relates. (Evid. Code, § 801.) Defendant argues the testimony of Officers Johnson, Holmes and Mejia was not based on consistent and reliable data because some commentators on gang activities in Los Angeles have written that the Crips and the Bloods are poorly structured, undisciplined and lack leadership. Defendant suggests the existence of such commentary calls into question the notion these gangs can influence their individual members to commit crimes. Defendant misses the mark, impliedly mischaracterizing the prosecution's theory. John Gardner's testimony was that defendant killed the victim, not because he was directed to do so by some gang member in authority over him, but in furtherance of a general plan to attack Crips in the area, which was settled upon at a Blood gang meeting led by defendant himself. The record reveals the trial court properly permitted the officers to testify as gang experts, based upon their special knowledge, skill, experience, training [and] education (Evid. Code, § 720) related to gangs. At the time of the trial, Officer Johnson had been a gang investigator since 1973, had attended many seminars and classes on gang activity and gang crime, and had investigated more than a hundred gang homicides. Officer Holmes had worked with gangs for 10 years, specializing in them for 4. He had testified in many courts as a gang expert, given many lectures concerning gang culture, and had appeared on local and national television to speak on the topic. Officer Mejia, a member of a special Los Angeles Police Department gang unit, had been involved with gangs for seven years and had attended numerous professional seminars regarding gangs. We have found qualified, as gang experts, officers with investigative experience similar to that of the officers here. (See People v. Gardeley (1996) 14 Cal.4th 605, 617-620 [59 Cal. Rptr.2d 356, 927 P.2d 713]; People v. Roberts, supra, 2 Cal.4th at p. 298.) Expert opinion also must be related to a subject that is sufficiently beyond common experience that the opinion of an expert would assist the trier of fact. (Evid. Code, § 801, subd. (a).) Defendant cites People v. McClendon (1986) 146 Ill. App.3d 1004, 1008 [100 Ill.Dec. 671, 497 N.E.2d 849, 851-852] for the proposition gang membership is not so abstruse as to be beyond the ken of a juror. Obviously, this case from a sister state's intermediate appellate court is not controlling. More importantly, McClendon does not hold gang membership may not be the subject of expert testimony, only that it need not. In fact, the court in McClendon actually approved expert testimony by a police officer who had done investigative work in a gang crimes unit on the question whether the defendant was a gang member. (See People v. McClendon, supra, 146 Ill. App.3d at p. 1008 [497 N.E.2d at pp. 851-852].) In any event, we have without question permitted police to provide expert testimony regarding gangs. (See, e.g., People v. Champion, supra, 9 Cal.4th at p. 919; People v. Fudge (1994) 7 Cal.4th 1075, 1091 [31 Cal. Rptr.2d 321, 875 P.2d 36]; People v. Hawthorne (1992) 4 Cal.4th 43, 52 [14 Cal. Rptr.2d 133, 841 P.2d 118].)