The California Supreme Court reverses Omar Deen’s capital conviction and death sentence because the trial court failed to adequately examine whether a juror who had a personal connection to the murdered police chief harbored actual bias.
Sixth District holds that the probation department, not the trial court, decides eligibility for Penal Code section 1000.7’s young adult deferred entry of judgment pilot program and rejects separation of powers and abuse of discretion challenges to a denial based on out-of-county residence.
Fourth District holds that Penal Code section 29820’s firearm prohibition for certain juvenile wards until age 30 is facially constitutional under both the Second Amendment Bruen framework and the Due Process Clause.
Fifth District holds that Penal Code section 292’s definitions of ‘acts of violence’ and ‘great bodily harm’ are constitutional under California Constitution article I, section 12, and that a no-bail order in a serious child sexual abuse case was supported by clear and
Second District grants writ of mandate, holding that an indigent petitioner under California’s Racial Justice Act must show only a ‘plausible allegation’ of a violation to obtain counsel — not a prima facie showing of entitlement to relief — and may amend his petition to meet that
Fourth District affirms a Gun Violence Restraining Order against a father whose adult son with a documented mental-health history threatened a mass shooting at a local high school, holding the order survives Second Amendment, vagueness, and overbreadth challenges.
Fourth District reverses a second-degree-murder conviction, holding that statements obtained from a defendant during an undercover Perkins operation were inadmissible under Miranda because the suspect had invoked his right to counsel and a known law-enforcement officer continued to ‘stimulate&
Second District reverses convictions of former UCLA gynecologic oncologist James Heaps, holding the trial court’s ex parte communications with the jury through a judicial assistant — without notifying counsel — deprived defendant of counsel at a critical stage and the prosecution failed to pro
The California Supreme Court holds that a small amount of loose marijuana scattered on a car floor is not an open container under state law and does not give police probable cause to search the vehicle.
After IFP screening of an amended complaint by a state prisoner experiencing a mental-health crisis, the court allowed his Eighth Amendment excessive-force claim to proceed against two correctional officers who allegedly held him against a hot metal plate causing severe burns, but dismissed his deli
Second District denies Microsoft’s writ petition challenging a court-issued nondisclosure order that barred Microsoft from notifying its enterprise customer, USC, that the LAPD had served a search warrant on a USC graduate student’s email account.
First District affirms convictions for possessing an assault weapon and a large-capacity magazine, holding the inventory search of the defendant’s vehicle was lawful and that California’s assault-weapon and magazine bans survive Bruen.
First District denies habeas relief, holding that CDCR may constitutionally permit only educational merit credits — and not other prison conduct credits — to advance an inmate’s youth-parole eligibility date under Penal Code section 3051.
Judge Martínez-Olguín dismisses with prejudice the freestanding actual innocence claim in Maria Moore’s federal habeas petition challenging her California first-degree murder conviction with special circumstances, holding that the U.S. Supreme Court has not yet recognized a free-standing innocence c
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
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.