California Case Summaries

California Supreme Court

California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Litigation

People v. Barrera — Death sentence affirmed for torture-murder of two young children, with key rulings on expert hearsay and lesser-included-offense instructions

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

People v. Chhuon and Pan — Defense Counsel’s Guilty Concession Over Client’s Objection Requires Full Reversal in Capital Case

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

People v. Demolle — California Supreme Court Affirms Death Sentence in 1999 Child Murder; Clarifies Fourth Amendment Detention Rules and Victim Impact Testimony Scope

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.

California Supreme Court, Criminal Law, Litigation

People v. Mitchell — California Supreme Court Holds Defendants Who Agreed to Upper Term Sentences via Plea Bargain May Seek Retroactive Benefit of SB 567

automatic / May 18, 2026

The California Supreme Court unanimously held that defendants who accepted upper term sentences as part of a plea bargain may seek retroactive benefit of SB 567’s amendments to Penal Code section 1170(b), but the remedy is a remand for the defendant to waive, renegotiate, or withdraw the plea—not an automatic sentence reduction.

California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

People v. Morris — California Supreme Court Says Non-Killer Must Aid the Lethal Act, Not Just the Underlying Felony, to Be Guilty of First-Degree Felony Murder

automatic / May 4, 2026

The California Supreme Court holds that a non-killer accomplice with intent to kill is guilty of first-degree felony murder only if they aided the actual killer in the lethal act itself, not merely the underlying felony — reopening resentencing for many defendants previously denied.

California Supreme Court, Family Law

In re Z.G. — Juvenile Court Cannot Terminate Parental Rights Based Solely on Adoptability, and Mother’s Lawyer Was Ineffective for Failing to Demand Required Reunification Services

automatic / April 27, 2026

The California Supreme Court holds that juvenile courts cannot terminate a parent's rights based solely on a finding that the children are likely to be adopted, and that the mother's trial counsel here was constitutionally ineffective for failing to assert her statutory right to reunification services.

California Supreme Court, Administrative Law, Real Estate Law

Shear Development Co. v. California Coastal Commission — Courts Decide Coastal Commission Jurisdiction Independently, and the Commission Cannot Take Appeals Just Because a Site Allows Multiple Principal Uses

automatic / April 23, 2026

The California Supreme Court holds that courts must independently review whether the Coastal Commission has appellate jurisdiction over a local permit decision and that the Commission cannot exercise that jurisdiction merely because a site allows multiple principal uses.

California Supreme Court, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

People v. Bertsch and Hronis — Convictions Affirmed, Bertsch Death Sentence Stands, but Hronis Death Sentence Vacated Because of Later Changes to Self-Representation Law

automatic / April 20, 2026

The California Supreme Court affirms the convictions and Bertsch's death sentence in this 1985 kidnap-rape-murder case but reverses Hronis's death sentence because of post-trial changes in the law governing a defendant's mental competency to represent himself.

California Supreme Court, Labor & Employment Law, Litigation

Fuentes v. Empire Nissan — Tiny, Unreadable Contract Print Goes to Procedural, Not Substantive, Unconscionability — but Courts Must Scrutinize Illegible Terms Closely

automatic / February 2, 2026

The California Supreme Court clarifies that an unreadably small or blurry contract goes to procedural unconscionability, not substantive unconscionability — but illegibility triggers heightened scrutiny of the underlying terms for unfairness.

California Supreme Court, Administrative Law, Constitutional Law

City of Gilroy v. Superior Court — Public Records Act Allows Declaratory Relief Even After Records Are Disclosed, but Imposes No Three-Year Retention Duty

automatic / January 15, 2026

The California Supreme Court holds that requesters under the California Public Records Act can sometimes obtain declaratory relief even after the agency has produced everything responsive, but the statute does not impose a three-year duty to preserve records the agency has withheld as exempt.

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