The Court of Appeal granted petitioner’s request for a writ of prohibition where the trial court denied petitioner’s motion to set aside two sentence-enhancement allegations, pursuant to Penal Code section 995. Finding that Proposition 115 did not abrogate the court’s holding in People v. Superior Court (Mendella) (1983) 33 Cal.3d 754, the Court of Appeal held that a 995 motion is a proper way to challenge the sufficiency of the evidence of an enhancement proved at a preliminary hearing. It further held that because no evidence whatsoever was presented at the preliminary hearing to support the gang enhancement, the writ should be granted.
Case Summaries