Evil Ways Gangster From Police Car Chase Wins Conviction Appeal Point
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| Jesus Sanchez |
In the case of Jesus Ignacio Espinoza Sanchez the term was five years following a wild 2010 Garden Grove chase that included reckless driving on the wrong side of Orange County roads.
On the ball cops had caught Sanchez, a member of the Evil Ways gang, and a fellow hoodlum spray painting graffiti in a rival gang's turf.
A desperate Sanchez fled because he wasn't legally able to possess the loaded handgun that was inside his vehicle.
Anyhow, a March 2011 jury convicted him of evading police, possessing a concealed weapon in a vehicle, participation in a criminal street gang and possession of a weapon by a felon.
Superior Court Judge Richard W. Stanford sentenced him to prison.
Sanchez--who has earned at least five felony strikes--appealed, claiming that prosecutors gave jurors insufficient evidence of his guilt.
Last week, a California Court of Appeal based in Santa Ana considered his complaints and upheld all of the convictions but one. According to Justice Richard Aronson, there had been no evidence introduced at trial about Sanchez concealing the weapon in the getaway vehicle. Aronson called the government's position--the one the jury adopted--"mere speculation . . . without evidence." The court reversed that conviction.
Upshot: Sanchez--now a resident of High Desert State Prison in Susanville--received about a four year reduction in his 13-year sentence.
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