State v. Mendez

Defendant Mendez and his co-defendants Martinez and Contreras were indicted and jointly tried for murder, felony murder, and first degree kidnapping in connection with the death of Carlos Sevilla. This case is Mendez’s appeal of his conviction of felony murder. He contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a new trial and in excluding certain hearsay evidence. 1 The issues are whether a less than unanimous verdict on a separately charged underlying felony is necessarily inconsistent with a unanimous verdict for felony murder, and whether exclusion of the hearsay evidence…