Justia California Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the court of appeal in this case involving allegations of active gang participation and gang enhancements attached to other offenses, holding that the commission of two or more predicate offenses must be proven by independent admissible evidence, and such proof may not be established solely by the testimony of an expert who has no personal knowledge of facts otherwise necessary to satisfy the prosecution's burden.The two defendants in this case were charged with two counts of attempted murder, assault with a firearm, and active street gang participation. Gang and firearm enhancements were attached to the charges. The first trial ended when the jury hung on almost all charges, but a second jury convicted Defendants of the remaining allegations. The court of appeal reversed the active gang participation and enhancement allegations, as well as Defendant's firearm enhancements attached to those allegations, and otherwise affirmed, holding that some of an expert's testimony constituted inadmissible hearsay. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the jury was permitted to improperly rely on hearsay to conclude that the predicate offenses had been proven and that Defendants acted with intent to benefit a gang when they committed the crimes with which they were charged; and (2) the error was not harmless. View "People v. Valencia" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court convicting Defendant of kidnapping and killing Shirley and Andrew Demko after burglarizing and robbing their home, holding that there was no error in the proceedings below.On appeal, Defendant raised numerous allegations of error both during the guilt phase and the penalty phase. The Supreme Court rejected the claims and affirmed the judgment in its entirety, holding (1) the trial court did not err in denying Defendant's Batson/Wheeler motion upon finding that the prosecutor did not make a prima facie showing that the prosecutor exercised a peremptory challenge in a discriminatory manner; (2) assuming, without deciding, that the trial court erred in admitting statements that Defendant identified as implicating prior burglaries, any error was harmless as a matter of law; and (3) there were no penalty phase errors and no cumulative prejudice to consider. View "People v. Battle" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court reversed the order of the court of appeal denying a certificate of appealability in this case, holding that under the law as amended by Proposition 66 the requirement that habeas corpus petitioners must make a showing of actual innocence or death ineligibility if they seek a second chance to make an argument they could have made earlier does not apply to the habeas petition who raises a newly available claim at the first opportunity.Petitioner was convicted of a robbery murder and sentenced to death. In 2015, the Supreme Court denied Petitioner's habeas corpus petition. Petitioner then filed a federal habeas petition in the federal district court, which stayed proceedings to allow Petitioner to exhaust six claims in state court. Thereafter, Proposition 66 came into force. In 2018, Petitioner filed a second state habeas petition raising the six unexhausted claims. The state court dismissed Petitioner's recently filed habeas petition as successive. The court of appeals denied Petitioner's request for a certificate of appealability. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that Proposition 66 should be read to provide a means for appealing the superior court's determination that a subsequent petition is successive. View "In re Friend" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the court of appeal affirming the judgment of the trial court imposing an additional three-year term of imprisonment for a great bodily injury enhancement, holding that the act of furnishing a controlled substance is not by itself sufficient to establish that the defendant "personally inflict[ed]" great bodily injury.A jury convicted Defendant of offering a controlled substance to a minor and furnishing or giving away a controlled substance to a minor. The jury also sustained the allegation that Defendant personally inflicted great bodily injury upon his girlfriend, who died from fentanyl intoxication, within the meaning of Cal. Penal Code 12022.7, subdivision (a). The trial court sentenced Defendant to nine years in prison, plus an additional three years for the great bodily injury enhancement. The court of appeal affirmed. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case, holding that the trial court erred as a matter of law by precluding defense counsel from arguing that, in light of the girlfriend's voluntary ingestion of the controlled substance, the facts did not support a great bodily injury enhancement. View "People v. Ollo" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court reversed the decision of the court of appeal concluding that Defendant's case was final because Defendant could have appealed his sentence when it was imposed, holding that when a defendant is placed on probation with execution of an imposed state prison sentence suspended the case is not yet final if the defendant may still timely obtain direct review of an order revoking probation and causing the state prison sentence to take effect.Defendant pleaded no contest to a felony. In 2015, the trial court suspended him. In 2018, the court found Defendant in violation of a condition of probation and ordered the sentence to take effect. During the pendency of Defendant's appeal, the Legislature amended the provision under which the trial court had imposed two one-year enhancements. The parties agreed that the amendment applies to all cases that were not final when the legislation took effect but disagreed as to whether Defendant's case was final. The court of appeals held that it was. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that legislation ameliorating punishment presumptively applies to suspended execution cases pending on appeal from an order causing a previously imposed sentence to take effect. View "People v. Esquivel" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the trial court convicting Defendant of assault and robbery, holding that there was no constitutional violation in the trial court's providing the jury with an instruction modeled on CALCRIM No. 315 that listed fifteen factors the jury should consider when evaluating eyewitness identification evidence.The instruction in this case listed as a factor the jury should consider when evaluating eyewitness identification evidence how "certain" the witness was when he or she made an identification. On appeal, Defendant argued that the certainty instruction violated his state and federal due process rights to a fair trial because research shows that a witness's confidence in an identification is generally not a reliable indicator of accuracy. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that listing the witness's level of certainty as one of the factors the jury should consider when evaluating identification testimony did not render Defendant's trial fundamentally unfair. However, given the significance that witness certainty plays in the fact-finding process, the Court referred the matter to the Judicial Council to evaluate whether the instruction might be modified to avoid juror confusion regarding the correlation between certainty and accuracy. View "People v. Lemcke" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions for the first-degree murder and robbery of a deputy sheriff and his sentence of death, holding that Defendant's claims of error lacked merit.Specifically, the Supreme Court assumed error, but found no prejudice, as to (1) the trial court's failure to give a pinpoint jury instruction on Defendant's claim of accident relating to a felony-murder special-circumstance allegation; (2) the admission of a photograph of Defendant at the time of his prior sexual assault of Diane K.; and (3) the admission of certain victim impact testimony. Further, the trial court committed harmless error by using the 1996 revised version of CALJIC No. 8.71. The Court held that the cumulative effect of the three assumed error and the one harmless error did not warrant reversal. The Court remanded the matter for resentencing to strike a three-year prison term enhancement and otherwise affirmed. View "People v. Scully" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the court of appeal affirming the trial court's denial of Defendant's motion to vacate his 2002 conviction under Cal. Pen. Code 1473.7, holding that Defendant demonstrated a reasonable probability that if he had been properly advised by counsel about the immigration consequences of his plea, he would not have pleaded guilty to an offense subjecting him to mandatory deportation.Defendant was six years old when he came to the United States and lacked any meaningful ties to Mexico, his country of birth. In 2002, Defendant pled guilty to possessing methamphetamine precursors with intent to manufacture. Defendant's counsel did not advise Defendant as to the actual immigration consequences of his plea. Defendant later obtained an order to expunge his conviction. In 2018, Defendant filed a motion to vacate his conviction under section 1473.7. The trial court denied the motion without considering whether Defendant suffered prejudice from counsel's failure to provide adequate advise. The court of appeal affirmed, determining that defense counsel provided ineffective assistance but that Defendant suffered no prejudice. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that Defendant demonstrated a reasonable probability that if he had been properly advised about the immigration consequences of his plea he would not have pleaded guilty to the offense. View "People v. Vivar" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's convictions of the first degree murder of her four daughters and the attempted murder of her son but reversed her death sentence, holding that judicial misconduct during the penalty phase was prejudicial.The Supreme Court found or assumed seven errors in this case, including error in the guilt phase instructions regarding discovery violations, error limiting mental state testimony by defense experts in the guilt phase, error in excluding a neuropsychological expert's testimony in the penalty phase, error in excluding Defendant's positron emission tomography scan results from the penalty phase, error in failing to admit mitigating evidence from lay witnesses, erroneous penalty phase instructions regarding discovery violations, and judicial misconduct. The Supreme Court held (1) considered cumulatively, the errors during the guilt phase did not warrant reversal of the guilt judgment; (2) judicial misconduct in the penalty phase was prejudicial and warranted reversal of Defendant's death sentence; and (3) the prejudicial impact of additional penalty phase errors increased when considered together with the judicial misconduct. View "People v. Nieves" on Justia Law

The Supreme Court affirmed Defendant's conviction of first degree murder and verdict of death, holding that there was no prejudicial error in the proceedings below and that Defendant was not entitled to reversal of his conviction.A jury convicted Defendant of the first degree murder of a deputy sheriff. When the jury was unable to reach a penalty verdict the trial court declared a mistrial. Following a penalty retrial, the jury returned a verdict of death. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) even if prosecutorial misconduct occurred during the guilt phase, it was not prejudicial, and there were no other errors during the guilt phase; and (2) no prejudicial error occurred during the penalty phase, and Defendant's challenges to the constitutionality of the death penalty statute were unavailing. View "People v. Steskal" on Justia Law