The Ninth Circuit reversed Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem’s conviction for conspiring to provide material support to ISIS, holding that evidence of ideological sympathy and independent violence inspired by a terrorist group’s propaganda cannot sustain a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 2339B witho
The Ninth Circuit affirmed Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem’s convictions for conspiracy to transport firearms in interstate commerce and related charges, rejecting challenges to evidentiary rulings, sufficiency, Brady claims, sealed filings, and jury instructions, while reversing Count Five in a sepa
The Ninth Circuit affirmed Mark Ridley-Thomas’s convictions, holding that routing $100,000 through USC to benefit his son’s nonprofit was a thing of value supporting honest-services fraud and federal-program bribery.
The Court of Appeal affirmed an order suspending execution of sentence and granting probation after a jury convicted Earl Lamont Rogers of domestic violence offenses, holding that he forfeited his challenge to the admission of a prior threatening phone call by failing to object on the specific groun
The Court of Appeal reversed the denial of Ricardo Flores’s motion to vacate his conviction because the trial court wrongly required proof of removal or deportation and failed to recognize that denial of an immigration-benefit application can satisfy section 1473.7.
The Court of Appeal affirmed Jessie Cornejo Ambriz’s convictions and seven-year, four-month prison sentence, concluding that his statement during a prolonged strangulation and suffocation attack supported a criminal-threat conviction and that the sole trial error was harmless.
The Court of Appeal held that a jury’s not true finding on a personal firearm use enhancement does not preclude a trial court from later finding, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant was the actual killer for purposes of Penal Code section 1172.6 resentencing.
The Sixth District Court of Appeal affirmed a four-year negotiated sentence, holding that although the trial court exceeded its jurisdiction by failing to include a Marin County sentence in the aggregate term, Russell was estopped from challenging the unauthorized sentence because she received the b
The Fifth District upheld three child-sex convictions because explicit bathtub photographs permitted a reasonable inference supporting the corpus delicti, rejected constitutional challenges to the indeterminate sentences, and vacated unauthorized concurrent terms on 14 other counts.
The court granted Vital Grasshopper Cove LLC’s petition for declaratory judgment, found the petitioner was a bona fide purchaser reasonably without cause to believe the property was subject to forfeiture, amended the prior criminal forfeiture order, and divested the United States of any rights
A federal magistrate judge ordered a California prisoner to show cause why his habeas petition should not be dismissed because he had not exhausted state remedies and because the Younger abstention doctrine bars federal interference in his ongoing state criminal cases.
The Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of Robert Conrady’s habeas corpus petition, holding that his trial counsel’s performance during court-martial proceedings did not fall below constitutional standards despite counsel’s decision not to call defense witnesses.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two, affirmed Matthew Negrete’s convictions and 25-years-to-life sentence, holding that the trial court properly instructed the jury on the alleged offense timeframe and did not abuse its discretion in declining to disclose school records after in
California’s Second District Court of Appeal affirmed Marvion Templeton’s firearm conviction, holding that an officer’s observations during a lawful registration stop supported further investigation and that Templeton forfeited his separate challenge to the search of a pill bottle.
The Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed a Kern County judgment revoking probation and imposing a 23-year prison sentence after the defendant admitted violating a no-contact order protecting victims in two underlying domestic violence cases.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division Two, affirmed Tizoc Garcia’s 26-year sentence, holding that the trial court understood its duties under Penal Code section 1385 and did not abuse its discretion by finding that Garcia’s recidivism and other aggravating circumstances outweighe
A federal magistrate judge ordered a state prisoner to show cause why his habeas petition should not be dismissed as untimely, finding it was filed years after the one-year AEDPA deadline expired and that no statutory tolling, equitable tolling, or actual innocence exception appeared to apply.
The Ninth Circuit dismissed Mohamed Abdirisak Mohamed’s appeal because his broad plea-agreement waiver covered his challenge to the denial of plea withdrawal and the record supported the district court’s finding that the waiver was knowing and voluntary.
A federal magistrate judge recommended dismissing a pro se prisoner’s Section 2241 habeas petition without prejudice for failure to prosecute after mail sent to him was returned as undeliverable and he failed to give the court a current address within thirty days, and separately ordered the Cl
A magistrate judge recommended denying a stay because Rendon did not establish good cause for failing to exhaust two claims, while recommending dismissal of those claims without prejudice and continued proceedings on the other two.
The Court of Appeal denied Crystal Gillespie’s petition for a writ of mandate challenging the denial of pretrial mental health diversion, holding that the trial court applied the correct legal standard, that its credibility finding about the prosecution expert’s limited use of AI was sup
A federal district court adopted a magistrate judge’s recommendation and dismissed a state prisoner’s habeas petition, finding that his challenge to the denial of re-sentencing under California Penal Code § 1172.6 did not present a cognizable federal claim and that any challenge to his u
The Second District Court of Appeal, Division Three, dismissed James Ray Mitchell’s appeals as moot because he completed his sentence and was neither in custody nor on parole, even though the California Supreme Court had transferred the matter with the direction to vacate his sentence and reco
California’s First District Court of Appeal affirmed a $6,958 victim-restitution award for a stolen and crashed car, holding that the low end of its Kelley Blue Book range supplied a rational and factual basis and that no salvage-value deduction was required.