People v. Patterson CA4/3

FACTS

Patterson sold stolen computers. He sold Gregory Hebdon a computer through an intermediary. When Hebdon wanted to make additional purchases, the intermediary told him to talk to Patterson directly because she did not want to be involved. A couple months later, one afternoon, E.C. was driving looking for a garage sale when she looked down an alley and saw three men. She saw two “dark” men trying to push a white man into a car’s trunk. E.C. identified Patterson as the man holding the gun, but she only watched for a few seconds from 126 feet away. She honked her car horn and drove away—she heard gunshots and the sound of screeching tires. E.C. could not describe whether they had facial hair, whether they wore glasses, what they were wearing, or how tall they were. The only time E.C. saw either of their faces was when the car stopped and the driver got out of the car and closed the trunk.

1 Effective June 30, 2022, the Legislature renumbered Penal Code section 1170.95 to section 1172.6 without substantive change. (Stats. 2022, ch. 58, § 10.) For purposes of clarity, we refer to the statute as section 1172.6 throughout the opinion. All further statutory references are to the…