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Name: People v. Superior Court (Brooks)
Case #: B197189
Opinion Date: 01/18/2008
Division: 8
Citation: 159 Cal.App.4th 1
Summary

A prosecutor cannot amend the information to allege aggravating factors to secure a jury trial. Prior to Brooks’s trial, the prosecutor sought to amend an information to allege 10 aggravating circumstances. The trial court sustained Brooks’s demurrer to the amended information, and the prosecutor sought a writ of mandate. The appellate court denied the petition. People v. Sandoval disapproved of permitting a jury trial on aggravating circumstances in resentencing proceedings. Allowing the prosecutor to amend the information here implicated the same constitutional concerns inherent in a jury trial. Allowing a jury trial on aggravating circumstances would complicate the sentencing scheme by giving prosecutors discretion to determine which aggravating circumstances could be charged.