Blessett

*910 After an argument precipitated by references to their respective gangs, the victim Christopher Sisoukchaleun, took off his shirt to fight defendant Antoine Lamar Blessett. Instead, defendant followed Sisoukchaleun into the street and shot him between the eyes at nearly point-blank range with a firearm he had retrieved only moments earlier from his pickup truck, which was parked nearby. Defendant then fired a second close-range shot, striking Sisoukchaleun in the torso.

A jury found defendant guilty of the first degree murder ( Pen. Code, §§ 187, subd. (a), 189 ) 1 and possession of a firearm by a felon (§ 29800, subd. (a)(1) ). The jury also found true enhancements that defendant personally used a firearm and proximately caused death or great bodily injury (§ 12022.53, subd. (d) ), that he personally used a firearm in the commission of a felony (§§ 12022.5, subd. (a), 12022.53, subd. (b) ), and that he committed the murder for the benefit of a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (b)(1) ). Defendant now appeals claiming numerous trial errors and that the 10-year sentence imposed pursuant to section 186.22 must be struck. Additionally, we granted defendant's request for…

I respectfully dissent. The majority concludes that defendant forfeited his confrontation clause claim by failing to object in the trial court even though the trial court would have been duty bound to overrule any such objection under the governing law in effect at that time. The basis of the forfeiture doctrine is Evidence Code section 353, subdivision (a). It is premised on the requirement that a defendant create a record in support of an objection for use on appeal. Where, as here, the trial court is required to overrule an objection, the record for use on appeal is not enhanced. In other words, had defendant objected below, we would have the same record we have today. The majority's holding that defendant forfeited his confrontation clause claim by failing to object in the trial court renders the futility doctrine futile.

The majority bases its conclusion that defendant forfeited his confrontation clause claim by failing to object in the trial court on its finding that the change in the law effected by People v. Sanchez (2016) 63 Cal.4th 665 , 204 Cal.Rptr.3d 102 , 374 P.3d 320 ( Sanchez ) was reasonably foreseeable at the time of defendant's trial based on the concurring and…