Using a codefendant’s trial transcripts at a Penal Code section 1172.6 hearing did not violate due process because the petitioner could present and test evidence.
The Ninth Circuit rejected the claim that decades of use can create ownership of a deceased child’s identity and affirmed identity-theft and false-statement convictions.
Aggravated kidnapping to exact money or value does not require proof that the demand was wrongful or that the defendant believed nothing was owed.
A defendant may obtain prosecution jury-selection notes in postconviction discovery without first making a prima facie showing of racial bias.
The court reversed a misdemeanor conviction because witness travel ending before the last day and unexplained courtroom unavailability did not establish good cause to exceed section 1382’s deadline.
A court may exonerate a bail bond subject to later-calculated extradition costs, and the expiration of the appearance period does not erase that reimbursement condition.
Prosecutors cannot compel their own mental-health examination of a defendant seeking pretrial diversion.
A broad racial disparity statistic covering multiple kinds of enhancements did not establish a prima facie California Racial Justice Act violation without controlled analysis or comparable cases.
The First District denied a Racial Justice Act jury-selection claim because the evidence did not meet Hazlett’s requirement of bias directed toward the defendant.
The Second District held that any omission from a voluntary-intoxication instruction was harmless because the jury found intent to kill and the record foreclosed a different premeditation finding.
The Ninth Circuit upheld a child-pornography sentencing enhancement based on abuse outside the conviction offense and reliable state records.
Sentence challenge is denied because the plea waiver is enforceable and the cited guideline change is not retroactive.
A rape victim’s lost college scholarship was a compensable economic loss, and the defendant had no right to a jury determination of its amount.
The Ninth Circuit conditionally vacated an improper-entry conviction because the government failed to search for requested impeachment evidence and relied on layered hearsay.
The Court of Appeal upheld a probation condition allowing an officer to select drug and mental-health programs because the sentencing court set the treatment categories and did not authorize residential confinement.
The Court of Appeal vacated a child-abuse conviction because later medical science undermined categorical expert testimony that a short fall could not have caused the fatal injuries.
A school-assigned police officer could search a student on reasonable suspicion after a gun remark, and the student’s ten-minute physical obstruction supported a Penal Code section 148 finding.
The Court of Appeal held that a knife-use admission plus the surrounding evidence supported an actual-killer finding and denial of Penal Code section 1172.6 relief.
The Ninth Circuit held that murder-for-hire can be charged as a continuing offense and that an undercover intermediary need not genuinely agree to the killing.
A guilty plea does not preclude factual litigation at a Penal Code section 1172.6 hearing, though Hawthorn failed to show the error changed the result.
The Sixth District reversed a sexual-assault conviction because inflammatory messages with little connection to the charge became improper propensity evidence and denied a fair trial.
United States v. Suel: The Ninth Circuit affirmed in a nonprecedential memorandum.
A person accused of murders committed at 15 could not be transferred to adult court because he was apprehended while juvenile jurisdiction remained available.
Due process requires actual or constructive control over foreign property before a federal court may exercise in rem forfeiture jurisdiction.