Consciousness of Guilt: Using Evidence Code 353 to Get a Limited Admissibility Instruction
April 17th, 2020
–Consciousness of Guilt and Mens Rea. Consciousness of guilt evidence is widely accepted as admissible to prove that the defendant was …. consciousness that he has committed some wrongdoing. (People v. Bolin (1998) 18 Cal.4th 297, 327; see also e.g, CC 372 [“awareness of guilt”].) However, it is also accepted that the defendant’s awareness of […]
Tags: CC 362, CC 371, CC 372, Consciousness of Guilt
Prosecution’s Constitutional Challenge to SB 1437 Rejected and CSC Review Denied
April 14th, 2020
SB 1437 bars liability for felony murder where the defendant wasn’t the actual killer, didn’t intend to kill, and wasn’t a major participant in the underlying felony. In Gooden, the C/A People v. Superior Court (Gooden); 42 CA5th 270 rejected the DA’s argument that SB 1437 unconstitutionally amended Proposition 7 or Proposition 115. Furthermore, People […]
Tags: Accomplice Liability, Aider and Abettor, Appeal, Attempted Murder, CC 400, CC 401, CC 402, CC 403, CC 415, CC 416, CC 417, CC 521, CC 600, CC 601, Chiu Doctrine, Natural and Probable Consequences, PC 1170.95, Premeditation and Deliberation, Retroactivity, SB 1437
Selected CALCRIM Revisions Which Are Still Pending Due to Cancellation of The March 2020 Judicial Council Meeting
March 31st, 2020
The March 24, 2020 meeting at which the March 2020 CALCRIM revisions were to be approved was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. See https://newsroom.courts.ca.gov/news/releases-20200323 The following revisions (highlighted in red) are some of the changes which were to be considered — and presumably approved — at the March meeting: Personal pronouns Many […]
March 2020 CALCRIM Revision Meeting Cancelled Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic
March 31st, 2020
The meeting at which the March 2020 CALCRIM revisions were to be approved has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The judicial council released the following statement regarding the cancellation: In her role as chair of the Judicial Council of California, Chief Justice Tani G. Cantil-Sakauye has cancelled the Judicial Council meeting scheduled for […]
CALCRIM Instruction on Adoptive Admissions Not Required Sua Sponte
March 28th, 2020
The trial court was not under a sua sponte duty to give the jury adoptive admission instructions (CALJIC 2.71.5 or CALCRIM 357). The jury was given the standard instruction on admissions in general (CALJIC 2.71; see also CALCRIM 358). When paired with court’s oral admonitions that the recorded statement was “only to be considered” with […]
Tags: CC 357, CC 358, CJ 2.71, Evidence and Witnesses
Multiplicity: Threats, Assault And Other Specific Examples
March 26th, 2020
Multiplicity deals with the fragmentation of what is legally a single offense into separate multiple offenses. This doctrine is legislatively set forth in pc 954, which “‘authorizes multiple convictions for different or distinct offenses, but does not permit multiple convictions for a different statement of the same offense when it is based on the same […]
Tags: Assault, CC 3515, Criminal Threats
Aiding and abetting: Natural and probable consequences–Does Chui Doctrine apply to Lying in wait?
March 25th, 2020
People v. Gastelum (Feb. 25, 2020, D075368) ___ Cal.App.4th ___ [pp. 3] held that People v. Chiu (2014) 59 Cal.4th 155 does not apply to first degree murder based on lying in wait. The court observed that because Chiu did not consider the first degree lying-in-wait murder at issue here, and Gastelum did not provide […]
Tags: Accomplice Liability, Aider and Abettor, CC 400, CC 401, CC 402, CC 403, CC 415, CC 416, CC 417, CC 521, CC 600, CC 601, Chiu Doctrine, First Degree Felony Murder, Lying in Wait
Grand Theft Statute (PC 487) Requires Application of Proposition 47
March 19th, 2020
In People v. Wehr (2019) 41 Cal.App.5th 123, 126-27 the defendant argued that his offense for receiving a stolen vehicle was eligible for misdemeanor treatment under PC 496 if the value of the stolen vehicle did not exceed $950. People v. Page (2017) 3 Cal.5th 1175 held that the general petty theft statute controls if […]
Tags: CC 1750, CC 1801, Grand Theft, Petty Theft, Proposition 47, Receiving Stolen Property
Two Issues Regarding Accomplice Liability for Attempted Murder Currently Before the CSC
March 17th, 2020
In 2018, the Legislature and the Governor signed into law Senate Bill No. 1437, (Penal Code which restricted the circumstances under which a person can be liable for felony murder and abrogated the natural and probable consequences doctrine as applied to murder. (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015.) It also established a procedure permitting qualified persons with […]
Tags: Accomplice Liability, Aider and Abettor, Appeal, Attempted Murder, CC 400, CC 401, CC 402, CC 403, CC 415, CC 416, CC 417, CC 521, CC 600, CC 601, Chiu Doctrine, Natural and Probable Consequences, PC 1170.95, Premeditation and Deliberation, Retroactivity, SB 1437
Reviewing Court Reverses Conviction and Enhancement Due to CALCRIM’s Erroneous Definition of Great Bodily Injury — Over 40 CC Instructions Potentially Affected
March 10th, 2020
People v. Medellin (2020) 45 Cal.App.5th 519, 533- 535 concluded that the CALCRIM definition of “great bodily harm” [GBI] in CC 875 and CC 3160 erroneously allowed the prosecutor to argue and the jury to find GBI based on either greater than minor harm or greater than moderate harm. This “alternate theory error” resulted in […]
Tags: CC 3160, CC 875, GBI, Sample Instructions
