1st District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 17, 2026
The First District reversed a second-degree murder conviction because the trial court failed to clarify — when the jury asked mid-deliberation — that the rule ending self-defense once danger passes does not also eliminate the lesser defense of imperfect self-defense.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 17, 2026
In an en banc opinion, the Ninth Circuit affirmed denial of habeas relief to an Arizona death-row prisoner, clarifying that merely including an underlying petition as an exhibit does not 'fairly present' a claim to a state supreme court, and that Martinez v. Ryan requires a showing of reasonable probability of a different outcome in state postconviction proceedings — not just the potential merit of the underlying IAC claim.
1st District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law
automatic /
June 12, 2026
When a SWAT team uses gas, drones, and robots to flush a suspect from his apartment, the resulting arrest is treated as an in-home arrest — but California's First District upheld the conviction anyway because the underlying warrant affidavit, even with false statements excised, still established probable cause.
3rd District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Healthcare Law
automatic /
June 12, 2026
A trial court may deny mental health diversion under Penal Code section 1001.36 when a defendant proposes returning to the same treatment program that previously failed to address his needs — even if the court frames its analysis in terms of treatment adequacy rather than the statutory suitability factors.
4th District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law
automatic /
June 12, 2026
In the first California published decision on investigative genetic genealogy, the Fourth District held that a rapist has no reasonable expectation of privacy in semen left at a crime scene — and that law enforcement's use of that DNA for genealogical database searches to identify him did not constitute a Fourth Amendment search.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law
automatic /
June 11, 2026
Applying the California Supreme Court's recent People v. Mitchell decision, the Second District held that Senate Bill 567's restrictions on imposing upper-term sentences apply retroactively to defendants resentenced after probation revocation — even defendants who absconded for years and whose cases remained non-final only because of their own misconduct.
6th District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law
automatic /
June 11, 2026
A Three Strikes prisoner who successfully petitioned under Proposition 47 to redesignate a grand theft conviction as a misdemeanor is entitled to a full resentencing on all counts — but must still satisfy Proposition 36's public safety standard before the court can reduce his indeterminate Three Strikes sentence.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 5, 2026
The Ninth Circuit denies qualified immunity to two former SFPD inspectors accused of fabricating evidence that led to Joaquin Ciria's 32-year wrongful imprisonment, holding that the right not to be charged based on deliberately fabricated evidence was clearly established by 1990.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law
automatic /
June 3, 2026
Ninth Circuit affirms firearms convictions, holding that silencers are optional accessories outside the Second Amendment’s plain text and that the NFA’s registration requirements are a constitutional shall-issue licensing regime.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law
automatic /
June 2, 2026
The Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, reverses a district court that ended a $1.1 million civil forfeiture case as a discovery sanction, holding that the claimant established standing and gave the government enough information to investigate his ownership claim.
California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law
automatic /
June 1, 2026
The California Supreme Court affirms a double gang-murder defendant's convictions but reverses his 1994 death sentence under the retroactive California Racial Justice Act of 2020, requiring a new penalty-phase trial in a case that has been on automatic appeal for over three decades.
California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 1, 2026
The California Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the death sentence of a Los Angeles father convicted of the torture-murders of two young children, holding that months of deliberate beatings, starvation, and medical neglect provided sufficient evidence of premeditated torturous intent, and that confrontation clause error in admitting a non-testifying expert's hearsay was harmless in light of the overwhelming independent evidence of abuse.
California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 1, 2026
The California Supreme Court reverses a death-row defendant's convictions entirely because his attorney conceded guilt over the client's explicit objection — a structural constitutional error requiring automatic reversal — while affirming the co-defendant's death sentence and vacating both defendants' gang enhancements under California's reformed gang statute.
California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
June 1, 2026
The California Supreme Court affirms a death sentence for the 1999 rape-murder of an Oakland 11-year-old, holding that a suspect who voluntarily accompanies police to the station and is briefly placed in a lockable interview room has not been seized under the Fourth Amendment — and clarifying when victim impact testimony from a teacher may be admitted at a capital penalty phase.
4th District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law
automatic /
May 28, 2026
The Fourth District conditionally reverses gang murder convictions, finding the trial court applied the wrong legal standards when denying Racial Justice Act motions and discovery requests based on the prosecution's introduction of a rap song at trial.
1st District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
May 28, 2026
The First District reverses the denial of compassionate release for a prisoner whose severe medical deterioration — complete loss of lower extremity function, fused spine, and incontinence — made any realistic possibility of future harm impossible.
4th District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law
automatic /
May 27, 2026
The Fourth District affirms a murder conviction where a suspect’s incriminating statements to a jailhouse undercover agent were admissible despite his prior Miranda invocation, because no known officer stimulated conversation after the invocation.
4th District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law
automatic /
May 27, 2026
The Fourth District holds that arrest records cannot be sealed under Penal Code section 851.91 when the arrest led to a conviction in a separately filed case arising from the same underlying conduct.
6th District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law
automatic /
May 26, 2026
California's Sixth District Court of Appeal upholds lifetime sex offender registration for offenders convicted of lewd acts with minors under Penal Code section 288(c)(1), rejecting an equal protection challenge comparing them to section 288(a) offenders who face shorter registration periods.
2nd District Court of Appeal, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
May 26, 2026
California appellate court reverses juvenile's commitment to a Secure Youth Treatment Facility because the minor's most recent offense by date was not a qualifying crime under section 707(b).
2nd District Court of Appeal, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
May 26, 2026
California appellate court rules that defendants must be allowed to argue aggravating sentencing factors to a jury, reversing an upper-term firearm enhancement where the trial court denied closing argument on those factors.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
May 26, 2026
The Ninth Circuit held that hash-value matches between a suspect's files and known child pornography can establish probable cause for a search warrant without agents first downloading and visually confirming the files.
1st District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Insurance Law, Litigation
automatic /
May 21, 2026
First District affirms bail bond forfeiture, holding that a trial court's on-the-record acknowledgment of an off-the-record explanation for a defendant's nonappearance suffices to retain jurisdiction over the bond under Penal Code section 1305.1.
4th District Court of Appeal, Criminal Law, Litigation
automatic /
May 21, 2026
Fourth District affirms that People failed to prove teenage accomplice guilty of murder under current law at section 1172.6 evidentiary hearing, but remands to redesignate his manslaughter conviction as attempted robbery rather than dismissing the case entirely.
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Criminal Law
automatic /
May 20, 2026
The Ninth Circuit affirmed a sentencing enhancement for maintaining a drug distribution premises, holding that a defendant’s apartment can qualify even when it also serves as his primary residence.