The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed the juvenile court’s denial of a criminal defense attorney’s petition on behalf of his client to access a minor’s confidential dependency case file, holding the appeal failed on three independent grounds: the appellant challenged only th
A federal district court adopted a magistrate judge’s findings and recommendations and dismissed a former state prisoner’s habeas petition without prejudice because he failed to pay the filing fee, seek in forma pauperis status, or otherwise respond to the court’s order.
United States v. Vargas: Knowing appeal waiver forecloses sentencing challenge.
Sentence affirmed but unannounced supervised-release conditions vacated.
The court granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss without leave to amend on three independent grounds.
The Court of Appeal reversed Keshon Derrick Wilson’s murder and attempted murder convictions because the trial court’s answer to a jury question permitted use of an objective provocation standard where the law required consideration of whether Wilson was actually provoked.
California’s Second District Court of Appeal affirmed Dorvail Money’s 30-years-to-life sentence for second degree murder, holding the trial court did not abuse its discretion in declining to strike his prior strike conviction under the Three Strikes law.
The First District reversed the denial of Gary Owens’s new-trial motion because Juror No. 7 intentionally concealed his biological mother’s shooting death and withheld his unsettling contacts with Owens’s only defense witness, leaving a substantial likelihood of actual bias that the prosecution did
The Second District Court of Appeal affirmed the denial of Alberto Mejia’s 2025 petition for a new Franklin proceeding, holding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion because the record showed Mejia had already been given a full opportunity to place youth-related mitigation evidence
The Court of Appeal vacated a $300 restitution fine and remanded for the trial court to consider an excessive fines objection under the California Supreme Court’s intervening decision in People v. Kopp, while otherwise affirming the judgment.
California’s Second District Court of Appeal reversed Julia Mildenberger’s misdemeanor conviction concerning eight puppies because the evidence did not show she left them in dangerous conditions overnight, but affirmed her conviction concerning outdoor cats, upheld the dependent-support
The Third District affirmed the judgment after an independent Wende review found no arguable error, but directed the trial court to correct the clerk’s minutes and abstract of judgment because they listed fines the court had not orally imposed.
The Court of Appeal affirmed Derick Darnell Harmon’s 45-years-to-life sentence, holding that prior serious felony enhancements may be added consecutively to a 25-years-to-life third-strike term, and directed correction of erroneous sentencing records.
The Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed an upper-term four-year prison sentence for assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury after conducting an independent review of the record and finding no arguable error that would result in a disposition more favorable to defendant.
The Court of Appeal reversed the denial of a Penal Code section 1172.6 resentencing petition, holding that ambiguous jury instructions on aiding-and-abetting implied malice murder did not conclusively establish the defendant’s ineligibility for relief, and remanded for issuance of an order to
The Court of Appeal affirmed the denial of a Penal Code section 1172.6 resentencing petition, holding that the trial court properly relied on preliminary hearing testimony to find the defendant was the actual killer and therefore ineligible for relief.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal denied Travis Sterling Merritt’s petition for rehearing and modified its opinion to state that his first strike offenses for four counts of robbery were committed when he was 17 years old, while expressly stating that the modifications do not effect a change
The Court of Appeal affirmed Hayes’s convictions but vacated his 50-years-to-life third-strike sentence and remanded for full resentencing because aggravated battery by gassing was not a serious or violent felony and no jury finding supported treating it as one.
The Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed a 13-year prison sentence after an independent review under People v. Wende found no arguable error, but ordered the abstract of judgment amended to conform to the trial court’s oral pronouncement that the term run consecutively to any other sentence
The Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division One, affirmed Aaron Jahrootz Steele’s convictions arising from a shopping-center confrontation, rejected his severance and due-process challenges, and left reversal of a separate threat conviction and any retrial or resentencing to a concurrently i
The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s denial of Delonne Giles’s petition for recall and resentencing under Penal Code section 1170(d)(1), finding he did not receive a de facto life without parole sentence and had already received parole consideration.
A defendant who accepted the benefits of a plea agreement resulting in an unauthorized sentence is estopped from challenging that sentence on appeal, though the case must be remanded to correct the February 7, 2025 minute order to reflect the oral pronouncement of 456 days of credits.
The Third District Court of Appeal affirmed Balaji Balu’s conviction and 24-year prison sentence for 10 lewd acts on a minor, rejecting challenges to jury instructions on the statute of limitations’ corroboration requirement, the standard of proof, expert testimony on child sexual abuse
The Third District Court of Appeal affirmed Adrian Kevin Hills, Jr.’s conviction for attempting to dissuade a witness from testifying, finding substantial evidence supported the jury’s verdict based on his jail calls and letter to a mutual friend.