California v. Lopez
Annotate this CaseDefendant Fernando Lopez was convicted by jury of premeditated attempted murder, assault with a semiautomatic firearm, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. In challenging his convictions, Lopez raises two related contentions: (1) the trial court abused its discretion in denying his motion for mistrial; and (2) the court’s decision to admit what Lopez referred to as “gang evidence” was an abuse of discretion under Evidence Code section 352 because, he claimed, the evidence was more prejudicial than probative. After full briefing on appeal was completed in this matter, Lopez sought leave to file two supplemental briefs in which he contended his sentence should have been vacated and the case remanded for resentencing in light of recent ameliorative changes to two different sentencing schemes applicable to his case. After review, the Court of Appeal concluded neither of Lopez’s arguments appealing his convictions had merit. However, the Court agreed that he was entitled to resentencing given the recent changes in the law, which the parties agreed applied retroactively to nonfinal cases.
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