People v. Therman, 2021 WL 4859299 (Cal. App. 2021)

Defendant argued that trial court erred in admitting Currier's expert opinion testimony that the cartridge casing recovered from the scene was fired from the gun found in his waistband. He argued the trial court should have excluded Currier's testimony or conducted a Kelly hearing on firearms comparison evidence. He also contended that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to act as a "gatekeeper" as required by Sargon Enterprises, Inc. v. University of Southern California. Thiis Court rejected these contentions, because (1) the PCAST report, which the Defendant relied upon in his argument for why he should have gotten a Kelly hearing, "falls short of establishing that a 'clear majority' of the relevant scientific community no longer accepts firearm toolmark comparsion as reliable, and (2) Defendant's Sargon argument amounted to an invitation to abandon the Kelly test in favor of the federal Daubert standard, which this Court cannot do.