Fifth District holds Penal Code section 4600’s specific statute on damaging jail or prison property displaces the general felony vandalism statute, requiring reversal of an inmate’s vandalism conviction and remand for resentencing.
After the California Supreme Court denied a state habeas petition while the federal stay-and-abey motion was pending, the magistrate judge denied the stay request as moot, finding that the petitioner had now fully exhausted his federal claims because they were substantially equivalent to claims pres
Central District of California denies a federal prisoner’s petition to be transported approximately 1,500 miles to testify in person at a private Texas civil trial, finding the cost and security burdens outweigh the benefits.
First District affirms a one-year extension of a mentally disordered offender’s commitment at Coalinga State Hospital, holding the patient forfeited his due-process and equal-protection challenges to the lack of an actuarial risk-assessment tool, and that any instructional error was harmless.
Eastern District of California recommends denying a habeas corpus petition by a state prisoner serving 25 years to life, holding that the absence of clearly established Supreme Court law requiring a jury instruction on attempted criminal threats in a non-capital case forecloses federal habeas relief
The court dismissed a federal habeas petition challenging a California Vehicle Code infraction for lack of jurisdiction, ruling that a 30-day driver’s license suspension is a collateral consequence of conviction that does not satisfy 28 U.S.C. § 2254’s requirement that the petitioner be
After holding an evidentiary hearing, the court denied a federal prisoner’s motion to vacate his sentence for ineffective assistance of counsel, ruling that even though his lawyer miscalculated the sentencing guidelines before trial, the petitioner could not show prejudice because he had alrea
Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett accepted a magistrate’s recommendation denying a § 2254 habeas petition, denying additional discovery under Bracy v. Gramley because the petitioner already possessed the only evidence he sought, and denying an evidentiary hearing because the alleged facts would not
Magistrate Judge Daniel S. Roberts ordered a pro se prisoner plaintiff to show cause why his § 1983 suit over a Kern Valley State Prison incident should not be transferred to the Eastern District of California, where the prison and all defendants are located.
Fourth District reverses a multi-count conviction because the trial court accepted, without substantial supporting evidence, the prosecution’s stated reason for striking the only Latina juror under amended Code of Civil Procedure section 231.7.