State v. Martinez

John Adolph Martinez, defendant and appellant, was convicted of felony theft by jury verdict in the Cascade County District Court. This appeal attacks the judgment of conviction on the following grounds: (1) insufficiency of the evidence; (2) the impropriety of allowing several prejudicial hearsay statements over objection; (3) the denial of a fair trial and adequate assistance of counsel because of the court’s restrictions on defendant’s opening statement, and (4) the giving of a jury instruction commonly known as the “Sandstrom instruction.”

On May 30, 1978, defendant Martinez removed…