Arteaga

I. INTRODUCTION

A grand jury indicted petitioner Richard Torres Arteaga on charges of participating in a criminal street gang (Pen. Code, § 186.22, subd. (a)) and conspiracy to sell methamphetamine (§ 182, subd. (a)(1); Health & Saf. Code, § 11379), with an allegation that petitioner committed the conspiracy for the benefit of a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1)(A)) and an allegation that petitioner had a prior narcotics conviction (Health & Saf. Code, § 11370.2, subd. (c)).

Petitioner moved to dismiss the grand jury indictment. He argued there was not “reasonable or probable cause” for the indictment (§ 995) because the only evidence the grand jury received in support of the charges was uncorroborated accomplice testimony. After the trial court denied petitioner’s section 995 motion, petitioner filed a petition for writ of mandate and/or prohibition in this court.

The Attorney General contends we should deny the petition because petitioner did not file his section 995 motion within 60 days of his arraignment, which is a prerequisite for pretrial writ review under section 1510. We conclude that under the circumstances of this case, petitioner may seek…