People v. Hicks CA5

INTRODUCTION

After his first trial ended in a hung jury, defendant James Edward Hicks was retried and convicted of the following: two counts of shooting from a motor vehicle (Pen. Code,1 § 12034, subd. (c), counts 1 & 2); one count of shooting at an inhabited dwelling (§ 246, count 3); one count of unlawful firearm activity (§ 12021, subd. (e), count 4); and one count of active participation in a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (a); count 5). With respect to counts 1 through 3, the jury found true allegations the crimes were committed for the benefit of, or in association with, a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)) and that defendant personally and intentionally discharged a firearm which proximately caused great bodily injury to the two victims (§ 12022.53, subd. (d)). Defendant was sentenced to prison for an aggregate term of 110 years to life. On appeal, defendant contends, inter alia, that the trial court erred when it permitted a police detective to offer his personal opinion regarding the credibility of the prosecution’s chief witness, an accomplice who identified defendant as the shooter in the subject drive-by shooting. We agree and reverse. As we shall…