People v. Quiroz

After a jury trial, which was held simultaneously with the bench trial of codefendant Jose Anaya (Anaya), defendant Martin Quiroz (Quiroz) was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment with the Department of Corrections. He now brings this appeal in which the only issue raised is whether the trial court erred, thereby denying Quiroz a fair trial, by admitting into evidence a police officer’s testimony that an occurrence witness was unavailable to testify at trial because he was “scared and went to Mexico.”

The facts of the case disclose that Jesus Sanchez was…