Veamatahau

People v. Veamatahau

Good Law
233 Cal. Rptr. 3d 724·24 Cal. App. 5th 68
Court of Appeal of CaliforniaMay 31, 2018A150689California2,900 words

Opinion

lead Opinion

Margulies, J.

*725 *70 After a jury trial, defendant was convicted of, among other things, two misdemeanor counts of possession of personal identifying information and possession of a controlled substance, alprazolam (Xanax). On appeal, he argues the trial court erroneously denied his motion to dismiss both charges under Penal Code section 1118.1. He further contends his controlled substance possession conviction must be reversed because the prosecution's expert conveyed inadmissible, case-specific hearsay to the jury.

In the published portion of this opinion, we conclude the prosecution's expert's testimony that he relied on a database to determine the contents of the pills found on defendant's person was not case-specific hearsay under state law. We affirm the judgment.

I. BACKGROUND

On November 19, 2015, the district attorney filed an information charging defendant with six felonies and three misdemeanors. 1 As relevant to this appeal, defendant was charged with misdemeanor possession of personal identifying information ( Pen. Code, 2 § 530.5, subd. (c)(1) ; count 7) and misdemeanor possession of alprazolam (Xanax) ( Health & Saf. Code, § 11375, subd. (b)(2) ; count 8).

On June 6, 2015,…

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