What is the test for bifurcating a gang enhancement to a murder charge?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Garcia, B221396 (Cal. App. 2012):

Appellant contends the court erred when it denied his motion to bifurcate the gang enhancement, which violated his right to a fair trial, because the gang evidence was irrelevant to the murder charge and threatened to sway the jury to convict him regardless of his actual guilt. (See People v. Hernandez (2004) 33 Cal.4th 1040, 1049 [The court recognized "some of the gang evidence, even as it relates to the defendant, may be so extraordinarly prejudicial, and of so little relevance to guilt, that it threatens to sway the jury to convict regardless of the defendant's actual guilt."].)

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