Under the corpus delecti rule, a conviction is prohibited where the only evidence that the crime (corpus) was committed is the defendant’s out-of-court statement, but the corpus does not include facts resulting in sentence enhancement. In this case, appellant was charged with transportation of controlled substance for sale from one county to another non-contiguous county (Health & Saf. Code, sec. 11379, subd. (b)]. At trial, sufficient evidence, aside from appellant’s out-of-court statement, was presented to establish the corpus of the underlying crime of possession of a controlled substance for sale (Health & Saf. Code, sec. 11379, subd. (a)). Because subdivision (b) is an enhancement of the penalty for the underlying crime, as opposed to a crime or corpus, use of appellant’s out-of-court statements to establish that the controlled substance had been transported from one county to a non-contiguous county did not violate the corpus delecti rule.
Case Summaries