JJC @juiceandjustice - Tumblr Blog

State Bar disciplinary charges filed against prosecutor for misconduct & reversal of conviction in (an unrelated) published case today!

Chalk two tallies up for justice today! The state bar announced they are filing disciplinary charges against former City Attorney (yes, THE City Attorney at the time) Carmen Trutanich (always name names) for Brady violations (and failing to correct false testimony) in a death penalty case. The matter arose before the State Bar after a federal judge overturned the murder conviction and death…

View On WordPress

Holy COW! Sentence modified because mandatory use enhancement was cruel and unusual (as applied)

I remember reading about this super sad case where this young woman shot a guy who had crashed her birthday party, beat up her father, and then appeared to be retrieving something (a weapon?) from his car. She was convicted of attempted voluntary manslaughter, mayhem (he was paralyzed, but really with that charge?!) and shooting at an occupied vehicle. She was sentenced to 27 years to life…

View On WordPress

innocent guy gets new trial

It’s always good when any court ruling starts like this: “The Habeas Corpus secures every man here, alien or citizen, against everything which is not law, whatever shape it may assume. — Thomas Jefferson.” This poor guy has been in prison for 19 years (serving a 75 year sentence) for armed robbery. Now he’s been awarded a new trial. His original habeas petition was denied because he could not…

View On WordPress

another life kidnapping sentence reversed for insuff evid of substantial movement

LOVELY. Insufficient evidence of kidnapping for robbery where Ds moved victims 50ish feet in the same store they robbed. They did move them from the front of the store to the back but that was not enough. Recall there was another good one of these recently in a sex case. Also in this opinion: a few findings of harmless prosecutorial misconduct. The judge was so annoying in this case doing…

View On WordPress

COA: PRCS sux cause it lacks a "homeless" provision re reporting a residence

COA: PRCS sux cause it lacks a “homeless” provision re reporting a residence

D found in violation of PRCS because he failed to report his address to probation even though the guy was homeless and had no residence. Reversed. COA said PRCS does not have any provision that governs how a person is to report his address when he has no address. COA calls out the legislature asking them to revise the statute it to make it mimic the sex offender registry statute which has a…

View On WordPress

new laws

I was reading a cpda pdf on the new laws and a few caught my eye that I was previously unaware of. Of course, we all know (or should know) that marijuana is now legal with reduced penalties that apply retroactively for possession for sale (11359 is now a misdo) and transportation for sale (pure transportation is not a crime). Note 11359 and 11360 are wobblers IF D has 2 priors. But it is arguable…

View On WordPress

Prop 66 stayed

If you don’t get email alerts from [email protected] you ought to. They just emailed that the Cal Supreme Court issued a stay (see below) on the implementation of Prop. 66–the proposition that speeds up the death penalty and is terrible and awful and unconstitutional. Here’s the word: Petitioners’ “Motion for Leave to File Amended and Renewed Petition for Extraordinary Relief, ” filed on…

View On WordPress

Most scathing opinion ever?!

A little late blogging this…the COA issued a scathing opinion in the OC snitch scandal case. The AG argued the trial court erred in disqualifying the entire DA’s office from prosecuting the case. Here’s what the COA had to say about that: “On the last page of the Attorney General‟s reply brief it states, ‘The trial court’s order recusing the OCDA from prosecuting Dekraai’s penalty phase trial was…

View On WordPress

Interesting competency procedural issue: conviction reversed

Court of Appeal reversed a conviction today on an issue the defendant did not initially raise on appeal. D claimed there was not sufficient evidence he was competent after the trial court ruled otherwise. The Court of Appeal held that the real issue was whether the trial court erred in ruling on the ultimate issue of competency without first ruling on whether there was evidence of a doubt of…

View On WordPress

Insufficient evidence of kidnapping for rape. Weakest. Kidnap. Ever.

Wow. This dude got an LWOP enhancement for kidnapping for rape? REALLY?! What was the “kidnap”? Moving CW from one room in the apartment to another and he committed the crimes against her in both rooms anyway. Where is the substantial distance? Where is the prospect of increased harm? Glad the COA reversed. Glad this is published.

View On WordPress

Prop 64 resentencing

Check out Judge Couzen’s and Justice Bigelow’s memo on Prop. 64 marijuana resentencing (the new CA law which allows for resentencing for mj possession, sales, & transportation convictions, and others). Memo Here. While there are likely many straightforward cases, there will be some stickier situations (eg what counts as a “prior conviction” that could bring your client into wobbler-land? what…

View On WordPress

Dear DA: No backsies!

Nice Supreme Court decision today: if a DA enters into a plea bargain and D later petitions for resentencing under Prop. 47, the DA is not allowed to take back the original plea bargain. E.g., here, DA dismissed robbery to allow D to plead to theft. D’s petition for resentencing under Prop. 47 was to be granted so DA wanted to take back the original plea bargain. The trial court said that’s all…

View On WordPress

what tha what? Dismissal of capital murder charges for VINDICTIVE PROSECUTION

Well I’ll be damned, first a reversal for IAC in failing to file a motion to dismiss for pre-charging delay (last week) and now a dismissal of several capital murder charges for vindictive prosecution. Is good law being revived or is it just me?! (But see yesterday’s terrible opinion on a suppression issue in Lopez [http://www.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/C078537.PDF].) D appealed his death…

View On WordPress

Battered homeless person syndrome = relevant evidence; 1st deg. murder conviction reversed

Super interesting case where the trial court excluded a proposed defense expert who would testify about how homeless people are more likely to be victims of crime of violence. The testimony was offered to support the defendant’s imperfect self-defense claim to 1st degree murder. The trial court excluded the evidence saying it was too general to be applicable to D and that the testimony was not…

View On WordPress

Second victory for juveniles with LWOP sentences today

And another thing. 2nd Dist. COA also held today that when a trial court is going to hold a post-Graham hearing on whether LWOP is appropriate for a juvenile convicted of homicide, they have to make specific findings about “whether the juvenile offender’s crime reflects permanent incorrigibility arising from irreparable corruption.” That language comes from the Supreme Court case Montgomery. In…

View On WordPress

Juveniles who were already resentenced from LWOP to Life can still petition for resentencing under 1170(d)

Lovely opinion today. Juveniles were given LWOP. After Graham, they were resentenced to life with the possibility of parole. After 1170(d) was passed, which allows juveniles sentenced to LWOP to petition for resentencing and was enacted because of Graham, the now grown men petitioned for resentencing and were both released on probation with life terms suspended. The prosecution appealed, arguing…

View On WordPress

SVP Commitment reversed for insufficient evidence

Great opinion today from the 2nd Dist. on the sufficiency of the evidence that D suffered from a mental disorder that made him a danger to others by committing future sex crimes. D’s diagnosis was “hebephilia” which is an interest in pubescent “minors”–neither pre pubescent nor post pubescent people…middle of the ground puberty. WTF does that mean? Ya, good question. The diagnosis has been…

View On WordPress

Trending Blogs

Recently Viewed Blogs

JJC