People v. Martin CA4/1

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant Deion Elijah Martin was charged with two counts of

attempted murder (Pen. Code,1 §§ 664, 187, subd. (a)) and one count of active participation in a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (a)). The attempted murder counts carried gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)) and firearm (§ 12202.53, subds. (d), (e)) enhancement allegations. The prosecution introduced extensive evidence at trial about gangs. The jury found defendant guilty on one count of attempted murder but found him not guilty on all other counts and made not true findings on the gang and firearm enhancement allegations. Defendant appeals the judgment, arguing the trial court erred under Evidence Code sections 352 and 352.2 by admitting unduly prejudicial excerpts from a gang rap video produced by defendant’s music label and in which defendant appears. Assuming without deciding that the trial court erred in admitting the video excerpts, we conclude the error was harmless. Accordingly, we will affirm the judgment in case number E083174/D086603. While defendant’s appeal from the judgment was pending, he filed in the trial court a petition for resentencing under section 1172.6. The trial court denied the…