People v. Funes

In People v. Funes (1994) 23 Cal.App.4th 1506, the court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in allowing evidence of gang activity as relevant to motive. ( Id. at p. 1518.) Although there was a gang allegation pursuant to section 186.22 in Funes, the court addressed only the issue of whether the trial court properly admitted the evidence of gang affiliation to prove motive, malice, premeditation, and intent with respect to the murder charge in that case. (Ibid.) After deciding the evidence was relevant, the Funes court went on to determine that the trial court did not abuse its discretion under Evidence Code section 352, even though it had permitted evidence of gang incidents in which the defendant was not personally involved. ( Id. at p. 1519.) The Funes court stated that all the incidents were relevant to motive, and the trial court had acted well within the bounds of reason.