People v. Sanchez

Filed 7/6/21 (unmodified opinion attached) CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, H047350 (Santa Clara County Plaintiff and Respondent, Super. Ct. No. C1898343)

v. ORDER MODIFYING OPINION GERMAN SANCHEZ, NO CHANGE IN JUDGMENT Defendant and Appellant.

The court orders that the opinion filed June 30, 2021, be modified as follows: On page 6, the last sentence of the disposition is replaced with, “In all other respects, we affirm the judgment.” The modification results from an inadvertent error in the originally drafted disposition; there is no change in the judgment.

Dated: ____________________________ Greenwood, P.J.

Filed 6/30/21 (unmodified opinion) CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE, H047350 (Santa Clara County Plaintiff and Respondent, Super. Ct. No. C1898343)

v.

GERMAN SANCHEZ,

Defendant and Appellant.

A jury found defendant German Sanchez guilty on two counts: possession of a controlled substance while armed with a loaded firearm, and carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle. The trial court granted a three-year term of probation including four months in county jail. The police stopped Sanchez while he was driving a pickup truck with methamphetamine in the cab of the truck. In the open bed of the truck, police found a loaded .22-caliber rifle inside a bag that was partially covered by a board. Sanchez contends the evidence was insufficient to support the conviction for possession of a controlled substance while armed with a loaded firearm. He argues the evidence failed to prove the firearm was “available for immediate offensive or defensive use” as required under Health and Safety Code section 11370.1, subdivision (a). Based on the plain meaning of the term “immediate,” we hold the evidence was insufficient to support a finding that the firearm was available for immediate use because Sanchez could not have used it without exiting the cab of the truck, retrieving the bag from under the board in the truck bed, and taking the gun out of the bag. These actions