People v. Torrez CA3

BACKGROUND

In August 2021, defendant and Hurt were involved in a dating relationship and sold drugs together. Defendant drove Hurt to a house where she previously lived so that she could pick up some of her belongings. Someone at the house called law enforcement and complained about her presence, prompting two Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputies to respond to the house. When they arrived, defendant was sitting in the driver’s seat of a Ford Mustang parked in the driveway. He appeared to be nervous. One of the deputies engaged defendant in conversation while the other deputy went to the house to contact Hurt. A short time later, the deputies lawfully detained both defendant and Hurt, after which the car was lawfully searched. A backpack was found on the front passenger side floorboard. Inside the backpack, along with various personal items belonging to Hurt, was a black Polymer80 “ghost gun”1 with an “auto selector switch” allowing the gun to be fired in full-automatic mode. The gun was loaded and fully operational. The backpack also contained $1,400 in cash and a plastic bag containing about 84 grams of methamphetamine. The deputies additionally found two digital scales in the…