Similars/Character/Conduct

Name: People v. Panighetti (2023) 95 Cal.App.5th 978
Case #: C095100
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 09/25/2023
  • Categories: Conflicts, Due Process, Marsden, Right to Counsel, Similars/Character/Conduct

Trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying multiple Marsden motions where disputes between trial counsel and defendant were over tactical decisions and trial counsel presented a defense consistent with the law. Defendant and Jill Doe practiced bondage, discipline,…

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Name: People v. Merchant
Case #: D075388
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 1
Opinion Date: 10/09/2019
  • Categories: Evidence, Examination of Witness, Similars/Character/Conduct

Defendant's right to cross-examine a prosecution witness was forfeited by wrongdoing where he coerced the witness from testifying at trial. Defendant was charged with kidnapping his girlfriend and other offenses. While in jail he called his girlfriend and urged her…

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Name: People v. Felix
Case #: C079382
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 10/16/2019
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence, Prior Convictions/Impeach, Similars/Character/Conduct

Trial court did not abuse its discretion when it admitted evidence of a prior crime the defendant and codefendant committed together to show defendant's knowledge of his codefendant's violent propensities. Felix got into an argument with several employees at a…

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Name: People v. Calhoun
Case #: G055511
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 3
Opinion Date: 07/09/2019
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence, Prior Convictions/Impeach, Similars/Character/Conduct

Evidence of a human trafficking victim's prostitution activity that occurred after defendant's arrest for trafficking was inadmissible for impeachment purposes. Defendant recruited 13-year-old D.T., a runaway, as a prostitute, acted as her pimp, and had sex with her. He was…

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Name: People v. Reyes
Case #: A152557
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 2
Opinion Date: 05/17/2019
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence, Hearsay, Similars/Character/Conduct

The trial court abused its discretion by excluding as unreliable a codefendant's confession that the firearm in question belonged to him, requiring reversal of defendant's conviction. Defendant was a passenger in his cousin Navarro's car when a police officer pulled…

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Name: People v. Phea
Case #: C080488
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 11/28/2018
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence, Similars/Character/Conduct

Trial court did not err by instructing the jury with CALCRIM No. 1191 regarding defendant's prior uncharged sex offenses. Phea was charged with 31 child molestation offenses against three minors and two offenses for furnishing controlled substances to a minor.…

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Name: People v. Williams
Case #: C081267
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 05/15/2018
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence, Similars/Character/Conduct

Murder conviction reversed where evidence that defendant committed a prior attempted murder during a domestic dispute was erroneously admitted to prove his intent to kill his current wife. In 2014, Williams stabbed his wife in the neck and left her…

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Name: People v. Nicolas
Case #: G052512
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 3
Opinion Date: 02/23/2017
  • Categories: Burden of Proof, Evidence, Similars/Character/Conduct, Trial Proceedings

Trial court committed structural error by erroneously instructing jury on uncharged misconduct evidence where the conduct at issue was an indivisible part of the charged offense. Nicolas was talking on her cell phone, texting, and speeding down the I-405. She…

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Name: People v. Shorts
Case #: C078041
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 03/06/2017
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Evidence, Similars/Character/Conduct

Trial court did not err under Evidence Code section 352 by admitting propensity evidence during defendant's murder and child sex offense trial that he had previously sexually assaulted his adult ex-girlfriend. A 13-year-old girl was found dead in a park.…

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Name: People v. Orloff
Case #: B266933
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 2 DCA
Division: 6
Opinion Date: 08/25/2016
  • Categories: Admitting/Excluding, Crimes, Elements of Crimes, Evidence, Ineff. Assist. Counsel (IAC), Right to Counsel, Similars/Character/Conduct

Trial court did not abuse its discretion by admitting evidence of prior uncharged criminal threats in case involving the same offense. Orloff, who is confined to a wheelchair, was convicted of making criminal threats (Pen. Code, § 422) and attempting…

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