California appellate court reverses juvenile’s commitment to a Secure Youth Treatment Facility because the minor’s most recent offense by date was not a qualifying crime under section 707(b).
First District affirms bail bond forfeiture, holding that a trial court’s on-the-record acknowledgment of an off-the-record explanation for a defendant’s nonappearance suffices to retain jurisdiction over the bond under Penal Code section 1305.1.
Fourth District affirms that People failed to prove teenage accomplice guilty of murder under current law at section 1172.6 evidentiary hearing, but remands to redesignate his manslaughter conviction as attempted robbery rather than dismissing the case entirely.
The California Supreme Court unanimously held that defendants who accepted upper term sentences as part of a plea bargain may seek retroactive benefit of SB 567’s amendments to Penal Code section 1170(b), but the remedy is a remand for the defendant to waive, renegotiate, or withdraw the plea—not an
The Third District Court of Appeal granted a writ of mandate ordering dismissal of a misdemeanor DUI case after the trial court’s policy of not empaneling juries on Mondays prevented the defendant from being brought to trial on the last statutory day under Penal Code section 1382.
The Sixth District ordered a trial court to reinstate blood-alcohol evidence in a DUI murder case, holding that a defendant’s breath-test request is irrelevant to blood-draw warrant probable cause and that the implied consent statute does not override a valid warrant.
The Ninth Circuit holds that when a racially biased juror is discovered and removed before a verdict is accepted, courts must apply the Remmer framework’s heavy presumption of prejudice—and reverses a tax-fraud conviction because the government could not rebut that presumption.
The Fifth District holds that Penal Code section 1172.75(f) excludes from resentencing only inmates who were both convicted of a sexually violent offense and sentenced to death or LWOP — reopening SB 483 resentencing for many lifers.
The Fifth District holds that body-worn camera footage showing an officer left a DUI suspect alone in a patrol car during the required 15-minute observation period is sufficient to rebut the presumption that breath test procedures were properly followed.
First District partially reverses animal rights activist’s trespass convictions arising from open-rescue activities at Sonoma County poultry farms, holding the trial court erred by limiting evidence of the defendant’s good-faith mistake of law about the legality of his conduct under the
Sixth District holds that trial courts lack inherent jurisdiction to correct unauthorized sentences after judgment becomes final, treats the appeal as a habeas petition, and orders the trial court to vacate a post-judgment resentencing that increased the defendant’s sentence.
Fourth District holds that a defendant’s appearance through counsel under Penal Code section 977 satisfies the appearance requirement for bail bond exoneration and that the trial court retained jurisdiction to award extradition costs after conditional exoneration.
First District holds that a probation condition allowing the probation department to incarcerate a defendant for up to 120 days without a court hearing improperly delegates judicial authority and that denying custody credit for residential treatment requires a knowing waiver under Penal Code section
Fourth District grants writ of mandate ordering reconsideration of misdemeanor diversion request in vehicular manslaughter case, holding that the trial court abused its discretion by denying diversion based solely on the inherent elements of the charged offense (negligence causing death) without ind
Sixth District reverses dismissal of multiple criminal cases under Penal Code section 1001.36 mental health diversion, holding that a defendant who commits several dozen new crimes during diversion has not substantially performed the diversion requirements regardless of progress made afterward.
First District holds that trial counsel’s failure to request a free court reporter for an antipsychotic medication renewal hearing constituted ineffective assistance of counsel and reverses the order authorizing involuntary medication, remanding for a new hearing.
Fourth District grants writ of mandate disqualifying a judge from presiding over a California Racial Justice Act hearing because her prior service as a homicide prosecutor in the same District Attorney’s Office whose charging practices are under review created an appearance of bias.
Fourth District reverses conviction where the trial court forced the defendant to choose between asserting a valid entrapment defense and admission of decades-old sexual misconduct evidence from his teenage years, holding that the conditioning violated his constitutional right to present a defense.
First District holds that placement in a family member’s home with community-based programming and supervision can qualify as a “less restrictive program” under Welfare and Institutions Code section 875(f), even though the appeal was dismissed as moot after the youth was placed wit
Fourth District reverses convictions in sexual assault case where the trial court failed to recognize that a peremptory challenge based on a juror’s nursing occupation was presumptively invalid under Code of Civil Procedure section 231.7, holding that defense counsel’s failure to specifi
Fourth District holds that a court correcting a clerical error in an abstract of judgment is not required to conduct full resentencing or hear Romero motions, but exceeded its authority by modifying the underlying misdemeanor sentences during the correction process.
Fourth District affirms forcible rape and related convictions but holds that stayed sentences based on unused One Strike circumstances and the Habitual Sexual Offender law are unauthorized when the defendant is already sentenced under the One Strike law and Three Strikes law for the same offense.
Second District holds that a jury’s not-true findings on personal firearm use and a robbery special circumstance do not collaterally estop a resentencing court from finding the defendant was the actual killer in a Penal Code section 1172.6 hearing, applying People v. Santamaria and joining Peo
Second District grants habeas petition vacating murder conviction where prosecutor failed to correct false eyewitness testimony about prior police identifications and defense counsel failed to impeach with the witnesses’ actual statements, applying the Supreme Court’s recent Glossip v. O