Admitting/Excluding

Name: People v. Cortez
Case #: S211915
Court: CA Supreme Court
District CalSup
Opinion Date: 05/10/2016
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, By Prosecutor, Evidence, General Principles, Hearsay, Jury Instructions, Misconduct

Court of Appeal's reversal of murder convictions based on accumulation of instructional and evidentiary error, plus prosecutorial misconduct, overturned based on absence of error. Cortez and Bernal were convicted of first degree murder and premeditated attempted murder based on a…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Herrera
Case #: B261842
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 2 DCA
Division: 6
Opinion Date: 05/16/2016
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Defenses, Evidence, Expert Witness, Mental

Trial court's improper restriction on defendant's use of psychiatric testimony regarding his post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) requires reversal of murder conviction. A jury convicted defendant of first degree murder and found that he personally used a knife (Pen. Code, §§…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Fruits
Case #: C076324
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 05/04/2016
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence, Similars/Character/Conduct

In trial for criminal threats (Pen. Code, § 422) and elder abuse (Pen. Code, § 368, subd. (b)(1)), court did not err by permitting prosecution to admit evidence of prior uncharged threats. Fruits swung pruning shears at his 73-year-old mother…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Gonzalez
Case #: B255375
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 2 DCA
Division: 4
Opinion Date: 03/30/2016
Subsequent History: Review granted 7/13/2016: S234377
  • Categories: Accomplice Testimony, Admitting/Excluding, Areas Constitutional Law, Confront/Cross-exam, Crimes, Evidence, Hearsay, Lesser-Included Offenses

Witness' statements to officer shortly after he witnessed a fatal shooting were admissible under the spontaneous statements exception to the hearsay rule. When officer Vasquez arrived at the scene of a robbery-murder about 12 minutes after it occurred, he encountered…

View Full Summary
Name: United States v. Rosales-Aguilar
Case #: 14-50315
Court: US Court of Appeals
District 9 Cir
Opinion Date: 04/12/2016
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Areas Constitutional Law, Evidence, Expert Witness, Interrogations & Confessions, Involuntary/Coerced, Miranda v. Arizona, Right Against Self-incrim

Trial court did not err by allowing prosecution to impeach expert witness with defendant's voluntary but un-Mirandized statements to law enforcement. Rosales was charged with illegal reentry into the U.S. His defense was that he lacked the specific intent to…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Giron-Chamul
Case #: A140628
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 1
Opinion Date: 03/18/2016
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Areas Constitutional Law, Confront/Cross-exam, Evidence, Examination of Witness, Other

Defendant was denied opportunity to effectively cross-examine child witness because the witness refused to answer hundreds of questions. After a jury convicted Giron-Chamul of committing sex offenses against his 4-year-old daughter, he appealed raising a number of contentions, including that…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Scally
Case #: G050444
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 3
Opinion Date: 12/22/2015
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence, Similars/Character/Conduct

Text messages defendant sent containing pimp terminology were properly admitted as evidence of intent during his trial for pimping and pandering. Scally was found guilty of pimping (Pen. Code, 266h, subd. (a)) and pandering (Pen. Code, 266i, subd. (a)) based…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Poletti
Case #: H040412
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 6 DCA
Opinion Date: 10/01/2015
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, By Prosecutor, Evidence, Misconduct, Presentation of Evidence, Trial Proceedings

Even if trial court erred by admitting evidence defendant committed uncharged rapes without instructing the jury he was acquitted of them, the error was not prejudicial. Poletti was charged with numerous sex offenses based on evidence that he sexually abused…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Jefferson
Case #: A139007
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 5
Opinion Date: 07/02/2015
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence

In trial for firearm offenses, trial court improperly admitted evidence that defendant legally possessed firearms on other occasions. During a 2012 traffic stop, Jefferson (a passenger) was found with a firearm that was legally registered to him. Drugs and money…

View Full Summary
Name: In re K.B.
Case #: A140960
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 4
Opinion Date: 07/20/2015
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence

Trial court properly admitted Instagram photos over defendant's authentication objection even though no one who was present when they were taken testified to their genuineness. A police officer monitoring Instagram observed a post showing K.B., a 17-year-old, and his friends…

View Full Summary