Field

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Christopher Hernandez appeals from the judgment of conviction entered after a jury found him guilty of willfully harming a child and willfully inflicting cruel or inhuman corporal punishment on a child. The jury also found true, as to both offenses, the enhancement allegation that Hernandez inflicted great bodily injury to a child while committing or attempting to commit a felony. Hernandez contends the trial court erred by allowing expert witness testimony about shaken baby syndrome and injuries typically suffered by children in high-speed collisions. He argues the expert witnesses lacked sufficient qualifications to offer expert opinions on those subjects and the court should have sustained his objections to that testimony. Hernandez also contends the trial court abused its discretion by imposing the upper term sentence of six years for the conviction of willfully harming a child. We affirm and remand for resentencing. For the reasons we will explain in detail post, the prosecution’s expert witnesses, who were all physicians and had treated Hernandez’s victim, were amply qualified to offer the expert opinions they gave at trial. We therefore affirm the…