People v. Luna CA3

BACKGROUND

An information charged defendant with felony possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (§ 29800, subd. (a)(1)) and alleged that he had multiple prior felony convictions. The following evidence was adduced at trial. On April 22, 2019, deputies responded to a call about a gold Ford Explorer leaving the scene of a location where shots had been fired. Former Sergeant Wes Gray, who was an investigator for the district attorney’s office at the time of trial, saw such a vehicle stopped outside a business. Defendant sat in the right-rear passenger seat, a female sat next to him behind the driver’s seat, and another female stood outside the vehicle. The driver had left the scene. Sergeant Gray asked defendant and the female passenger to exit the vehicle, and they complied. Sergeant Gray then searched the vehicle, including the back passenger compartment. Sergeant Gray saw four inches of a rifle barrel sticking out from underneath the right-rear passenger seat where defendant had been sitting. Deputy Caleb Scanlan met Sergeant Gray at the stopped Ford Explorer. He also saw four inches of a rifle barrel protruding from underneath the right-rear passenger seat, and identified…