Does the prosecution have to exclude evidence that a defendant was a member of a criminal gang from the criminal record?

The case of People v. Perez (1981) 114 Cal.App.3d 470, 473 is distinguishable. In that case, the trial court permitted the prosecution to present evidence that the defendant was a member of a gang with his codefendant, which tended to corroborate their identification by a witness. The court also admitted evidence that the stolen car was used in a shooting where defendant drove that car against a rival gang. (Ibid.) The appellate court found that the admission of the gang membership was in error because the defendant's gang membership did not have any tendency in reason to show identity and could impermissibly lead to unreasonable inferences of guilt by association. (Id. at p. 477.) The evidence of the shooting was only slightly probative to show that when the defendant abandoned the car he knew it was stolen. The court concluded that the evidence should have been excluded under section 352 and the error was prejudicial.