In re Ruedas

Petitioner Albert Ruedas was charged with various gang-related crimes and enhancements, including the special circumstances allegation he committed murder to further the activities of a criminal street gang. To prove the gang charges, the prosecution called an expert witness who based his opinions on a variety of extrajudicial sources, including testimonial hearsay. When defense counsel objected to the expert’s reliance on this evidence, the trial court overruled the objection and instructed the jury not to consider the evidence for its substantive truth, but only as a basis for the expert’s opinions. Ultimately, the jury convicted petitioner as charged, and the trial court sentenced him to life in prison without parole. The conviction became final in 2015. The following year, the California Supreme Court decided California v. Sanchez, 63 Cal.4th 665 (2016) case. Sanchez held that to properly evaluate an expert witness’ opinions, the jury generally must consider the evidence he relies on for the truth of the matter asserted therein, and therefore that evidence is subject to exclusion under the hearsay rule and the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Here, petitioner asked the Court of Appeal to apply Sanchez retroactively to his case and find the gang expert’s reliance on testimonial hearsay violated his confrontation rights. The Court determined Sanchez did not apply retroactively to cases like petitioner’s that were already final by the time Sanchez was decided. Therefore, petitioner could not avail himself of that decision, and his petition for a writ of habeas corpus was denied. View "In re Ruedas" on Justia Law