Pretrial Motions

Name: People v. Aguilar-Jimenez (2023) 95 Cal.App.5th 561
Case #: H050153
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 6 DCA
Opinion Date: 09/15/2023
  • Categories: Motions Dismiss/Strike, Preliminary Hearings, Pretrial Motions

A magistrate’s Penal Code section 871 dismissal of murder charges based on a legal conclusion did not divest the district attorney of the discretion to recharge them in the information under section 739. In December 2019, defendant was charged with…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Doron (2023) 95 Cal.App.5th 1
Case #: D079799
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 1
Opinion Date: 08/09/2023
Subsequent History: Ordered published 08/31/2023
  • Categories: Diversion - Mental Health

Senate Bill No. 1223’s amendments to the mental health diversion statute (Pen. Code, § 1001.36) apply retroactively to nonfinal cases. Defendant pleaded guilty to multiple offenses, after his request for pretrial mental health diversion was denied. On appeal, he argued that…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Pomar (2023) 95 Cal.App.5th 504
Case #: A167241
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 5
Opinion Date: 09/13/2023
  • Categories: Challenges to D.A., Pretrial Motions

Trial courts did not abuse their discretion by recusing the S.F. District Attorney’s Office from two cases where it was shown that the conduct of any attorney assigned to the cases would likely be influenced by the District Attorney’s conflict…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Superior Court (Mitchell) (2023) 94 Cal.App.5th 595
Case #: B326653
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 2 DCA
Division: 6
Opinion Date: 08/16/2023
  • Categories: Appealable Orders, Extraordinary Remedies, Mandamus, Pretrial Motions, Separation of Powers, Wobblers

A superior court’s order reducing a felony “wobbler” to a misdemeanor is unauthorized under Penal Code section 17(b) when made after the preliminary hearing and before trial. The first count in a felony information charged defendant with a wobbler as a…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Superior Court (Tapia) (2023) 93 Cal.App.5th 394
Case #: E080076
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 4 DCA
Division: 2
Opinion Date: 07/11/2023
Subsequent History: Opn. modified 8/2/2023
  • Categories: Motions Dismiss/Strike, Pretrial Motions, Speedy Trial

Trial court did not abuse its discretion when it dismissed defendant’s case based on a finding that its pre-COVID chronic backlog was not good cause to extend Penal Code section 1382’s presumptive 60-day trial deadline. Defendant’s last day for trial under…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Madrigal (2023) 93 Cal.App.5th 219
Case #: H046577
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 6 DCA
Opinion Date: 07/06/2023
  • Categories: Discovery, Felony Murder, Murder--Banks/Clark, Murder--Felony Murder, SB 1437

Retroactive application of Senate Bill No. 1437 entitled defendant to reversal of first degree murder conviction, where the jury was not instructed on the new elements of felony-murder. Madrigal was among a group of four or five men who got…

View Full Summary
Name: Rodas-Gramajo v. Superior Court (2023) 92 Cal.App.5th 656
Case #: A166375
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 3
Opinion Date: 06/15/2023
  • Categories: AB 333 (Gangs), Gang Enhancement, Motions Dismiss/Strike, Preliminary Hearings

A motion to set aside the information (Pen. Code, § 995) was the appropriate vehicle to challenge a gang enhancement allegation where the statute was amended by Assembly Bill No. 333 after the preliminary hearing. Petitioner was charged with various…

View Full Summary
Name: Smith v. U.S. (2023) __ U.S. __ [143 S.Ct. 1594]
Case #: 21-1576
Court: US Supreme Court
Opinion Date: 06/15/2023
  • Categories: Double Jeopardy, Jurisdiction & Venue, Other, State Venue, Venue

The U.S. Constitution permits retrial when a conviction is reversed because the prosecution occurred in the wrong venue and before a jury drawn from the wrong location. Smith was indicted in the Northern District of Florida for theft of trade…

View Full Summary
Name: People v. Braden (2023) 14 Cal.5th 791
Case #: S268925
Court: CA Supreme Court
District CalSup
Opinion Date: 06/05/2023
  • Categories: Diversion, Diversion - Mental Health

A request for pretrial diversion (Pen. Code, § 1001.36) must be made before attachment of jeopardy at trial or the entry of a guilty or no contest plea, whichever occurs first. In 2018, defendant was charged with resisting an executive officer…

View Full Summary
Name: McKneely v. Superior Court (2023) 91 Cal.App.5th 1232
Case #: A166307
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 1 DCA
Division: 2
Opinion Date: 05/25/2023
  • Categories: 1368 Competence, Areas Constitutional Law, Due Process, Pretrial Motions, Separation of Powers

Penal Code section 1372(c)(2), which requires a report from a mental health professional before a trial court may reject a certificate of restoration to competency, does not violate separation of powers. McKneely was found incompetent to stand trial and ordered…

View Full Summary