Muniz

Delfino Muniz was charged with conspiracy to commit an assault with a firearm. He waived his right to a jury trial, submitted the matter to the trial court on the transcript of his preliminary hearing, and was convicted. We affirm.

Facts

Muniz was originally charged with one count of conspiracy to commit murder. At his preliminary hearing, the prosecutor called only one witness, Deputy James Corrigan, a nine-year veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department who was one of three investigating officers in this case.

Deputy Corrigan testified that he had reviewed an arrest report prepared by Deputies Thompson and Benson. Corrigan then described the contents of that report: At about 7:45 p.m. on June 22, 1991, Thompson and Benson were patrolling in Compton when they saw a car with four male occupants parked on the street so that it blocked an alley. When the deputies approached the car, they saw Muniz, who was holding the butt end of a rifle, sitting in the back seat next to German Lopez, who was holding the rifle by the barrel. The deputies told all four men to get out of the car, which they did. The deputies then removed from the car a .22-caliber semiautomatic…