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
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 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 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
California’s Third District Court of Appeal affirmed Stephen Stubbs’s and Brandon Frank’s convictions for dozens of child sexual offenses, holding that Penal Code section 667.61’s tying-or-binding special circumstance extends to aiders and abettors, while modifying StubbsR
The Third District Court of Appeal dismissed Norberto Andrade Cardenas’s challenge to his guilty plea because his claim attacked the plea’s validity and he had not obtained the certificate of probable cause required for that appeal.
The Court of Appeal vacated Steele’s count 6 conviction because his lawyer unreasonably failed to request a mistake-of-fact instruction supported by substantial evidence, while denying his Racial Justice Act claim without prejudice to refiling in superior court.
The First District Court of Appeal affirmed Charles Tooker’s 16-year sentence, holding that its prior full-resentencing remand did not preclude a jury trial on unproven aggravating factors and that Tooker forfeited his ability-to-pay challenge, while ordering correction of custody credits in the abs
The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment, holding that the trial court properly overruled a section 231.7 objection to a peremptory challenge based on confirmed juror inattentiveness and did not abuse its discretion in declining to dismiss prior strike convictions.
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered judgment denying Laura Leesha Means’s request for habeas relief, with no further proceedings, consistent with the order accepting the magistrate judge’s findings and recommendations.
A federal magistrate judge ordered a pro se habeas petitioner to show cause why his concededly unexhausted Section 2254 petition should not be dismissed, directing him to either justify a Rhines stay or file an amended petition by November 24, 2026.
California’s Second District Court of Appeal affirmed the order denying Michael Antione Larry’s resentencing petition, holding that his supplemental appellate argument about trial counsel’s defense strategy was not relevant to the issues raised in his section 1172.6 petition and ha
The Court of Appeal affirmed Darrick Demond Hicks’s convictions but vacated the court-ordered payments and remanded for sentencing proceedings consistent with People v. Kopp.
The Court of Appeal reversed the order denying George Anthony Salinas’s recall and resentencing request and directed the trial court to recall his sentence and resentence him under Penal Code section 1172.1 because substantial evidence did not support a finding that he posed an unreasonable ri
The Third District Court of Appeal exercised its discretion to independently review the record after appellate counsel filed a no-issue Wende brief and, finding no arguable error, affirmed the trial court’s postjudgment order denying Derrick Jamal Wilson’s petition under Penal Code section 851.91 to
The Court of Appeal held that Penal Code section 830.1, subdivision (c) restricts off-duty authority only for deputies hired, trained, and used for limited custodial service, and substantial evidence showed that Deputy Rosa was a regular deputy when she was killed.
In an unpublished memorandum, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of Tzun-Magaña’s motion to dismiss his illegal reentry indictment, holding that even assuming due process violations in his removal proceedings he could not show prejudice because his California robbery conviction made him cat
The Fifth District Court of Appeal affirmed Tyequez Shamar Baker’s premeditated murder conviction and 80-years-to-life sentence, finding sufficient evidence and rejecting his instructional, self-representation, and sentencing claims.
The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed the attempted-murder and related judgments against Bryan Inocencio and Carl Ray Flores Jr., rejecting instructional, constitutional, sentencing, and ineffective-assistance challenges while directing correction of Inocencio’s abstract of judgment to
The Second District Court of Appeal affirmed Manahim Barragan’s murder conviction, finding any prosecutorial misconduct in closing argument harmless and no abuse of discretion in denying a mistrial or excusing a prospective juror for financial hardship.
The Court of Appeal affirmed Juan Carlos Moran’s assault conviction, holding that section 245(a)(1) is a lesser included offense of section 245(a)(2) and that evidence he pointed a gun at the victim supported the verdict even if the weapon was a BB or pellet gun.
The First District affirmed the trial court’s denial of Alfredo Valenzuela’s murder-resentencing petition, holding that his evidentiary objections were forfeited, that counsel had a rational tactical reason to accept the complete police interview, and that substantial evidence supported
The Third District Court of Appeal reversed the judgment and remanded for a new trial, holding that the trial court abused its discretion by removing a deliberating juror whose consideration of the defendant’s mental health was based on admitted trial testimony and her own life experience, bec