California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Ortega, F063612 (Cal. App. 2014):
Furthermore, we reject defendant's assertion that the trial court disregarded information regarding defendant's educational background, deeming it unreliable hearsay. Nothing in the ruling compels this conclusion. Rather, the trial court simply explained it did not make any factual findings as to defendant's education level as the only evidence before the court on the issue was hearsay. There was nothing improper with the court's evaluation of the evidence. While an expert may consider reliable hearsay in forming an opinion, and may be permitted at times to relay the substance of the hearsay to the trier of fact to evaluate the credibility of the opinion itself, the underlying hearsay is not itself admissible for the truth of the matter asserted. (Evid. Code, 801, subd. (b), 802; People v. Gardeley (1996) 14 Cal.4th 605, 618-619.) By taking note of the context and the overall evidence, the court simply seemed to be
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