People v. Huerta CA6

BACKGROUND

A complaint filed on January 8, 2008, charged defendant with assault by force likely to cause great bodily injury (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1)), grand theft from the person (Pen. Code, § 487, subd. (c)), and battery (Pen. Code, § 242). It was further alleged that defendant committed the charged crimes “for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with NORTENO CRIMINAL STREET GANG, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members, in violation of Penal Code Section 186.22(b)(1).” Also charged in these counts, and two others, was a codefendant, Joel Hernandez. At the preliminary hearing on April 28, 2008, a police officer testified that the person identified as Victim 1 (“Jane Doe” in the pleadings; hereafter Doe) told her that while standing outside Jaime‟s Bar in Salinas on the evening of October 15, 2007, she was approached by defendant and another woman, who asked where she was from. Doe responded that she was from the Los Angeles area. The women told her to leave the area. When she failed to do so, they “began to hit her . . . to the point where she fell to the ground,” whereupon they “began kicking…