In re Melvin Hiram Thomas II On Habeas Corpus

*748 A jury convicted Melvin Hiram Thomas II in 2003 for receiving a stolen vehicle ( Pen. Code, § 496d, subd. (a), unlabeled statutory citations refer to this code) and active participation in a criminal street gang (§ 186.22, subd. (a) ). 1 To support the gang conviction, the People offered a gang expert whose testimony included testimonial, out-of-court statements about the specific facts of Thomas's case.

On direct appeal, Thomas challenged the admissibility of the gang expert's testimony as testimonial hearsay which violated his Sixth Amendment confrontation rights under Crawford v. Washington (2004) 541 U.S. 36 , 124 S.Ct. 1354 , 158 L.Ed.2d 177 ( Crawford ). Another panel of this court concluded Crawford did not undermine the established rule that experts may testify about the bases of their opinions without running afoul of hearsay and confrontation clause problems because such evidence is not submitted for the truth of the matter, as our Supreme Court held in People v. Gardeley (1996) 14 Cal.4th 605 , 59 Cal.Rptr.2d 356 , 927 P.2d 713 ( Gardeley ). ( Thomas , supra , 130 Cal.App.4th at p. 1210 , 30 Cal.Rptr.3d 582 .) Subsequently, in People v. Sanchez (2016) 63 Cal.4th…