The Ninth Circuit reversed a district court judgment and sent it back for re-sentencing on Wednesday, August 18th. The court held that the district court did not undertake the proper inquiry on the defendant's motion to relieve his counsel and proceed with a...
criminal justice
Martinez-Medina v. Holder: Seizure of an Alien After Illegal Status is Admitted is Not a 4th Amendment Violation
The 9th Circuit court held that seizure of an alien by a state law enforcement officer after the alien admitted to being illegally present in the United States was not a flagrant violation of the Fourth Amendment warranting suppression of the alien's statements at an...
United States v. Bonds: Hearsay Evidence Affirmed as Inadmissible
Evidence provided by Greg Anderson, a trainer to Barry Bonds, was affirmed as inadmissible hearsay by the 9th Circuit on Friday, June 11th. In order to successfully convict Bonds on multiple counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice, the government...
Temporary Exclusion of Defendant’s Family Members from Courtroom Does not Violate Right to Public Trial
The California First Appellate District held that the brief exclusion of a defendant's family members from the courtroom during jury voire dire did not violate his constitutional right to a public trial. Mr. Bui was charged with multiple felonies, and had a jury...
California Supreme Court Approves of Warrants based only on DNA
The California Supreme Court has authorized arrest warrants that contain only a DNA profile of the suspect (known as "John Doe" arrest warrants). The Court last week upheld the rape conviction of Paul Robinson, who was arrested a month after the six-year statute of...
Presley v. Georgia: A Ruling on Public Trials
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that jury voire dire proceedings should be open to defendants and the public. The high court also said that a trial judge has a duty to seek alternatives that will preserve openness even when, for example, it appears that there...
Case Update: United States v. Yip (calculation of loss for tax fraud)
Following a conviction for federal tax fraud, the Ninth Circuit held that the district court properly included defendant's unpaid state taxes in the tax loss computation on which his term of imprisonment and his restitution order were based. Moreover, the defendant...
People v. Moret: Condition of Probation Prohibiting Use of Medical Marijuana Affirmed
In this case, a trial court's condition of probation prohibiting the use of marijuana (pursuant to a medical marijuana card) was held to be valid if it is reasonably related to future criminality and defendant has been found to consent to it. Appellant pled no contest...
Roman Polanski Case – Appeals Court Rejects Bid for Dismissal
Case Name: Polanski v. Superior Court, Opinion Date: 12/21/2009 , DAR #: 17703 A California Appeals court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in applying the fugitive disentitlement doctrine and dismissing without prejudice Mr. Polanski's motion to...
Recent Case Holding: People v. Limon – Immigration Consequences
This case held that: If the trial court fails to advise a defendant of immigration consequences, the defendant may seek to withdraw his plea pursuant to Penal Code section 1016.5, subdivision (b). In 1988, appellant, a non-citizen, was convicted of felony drug...