Secondary practice area
Fourth District affirms a Gun Violence Restraining Order against a father whose adult son with a documented mental-health history threatened a mass shooting at a local high school, holding the order survives Second Amendment, vagueness, and overbreadth challenges.
Fourth District reverses a second-degree-murder conviction, holding that statements obtained from a defendant during an undercover Perkins operation were inadmissible under Miranda because the suspect had invoked his right to counsel and a known law-enforcement officer continued to ‘stimulate’ the operation in a manner that amounted to custodial interrogation.
Second District reverses convictions of former UCLA gynecologic oncologist James Heaps, holding the trial court’s ex parte communications with the jury through a judicial assistant — without notifying counsel — deprived defendant of counsel at a critical stage and the prosecution failed to prove the error was harmless.
Third District affirms denial of writ relief, holding that the DMV is not required to disclose the identity of an anonymous third-party reporter whose request triggered a driver reexamination that ultimately led to license suspension.
The California Supreme Court holds that a small amount of loose marijuana scattered on a car floor is not an open container under state law and does not give police probable cause to search the vehicle.
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.
Second District denies Microsoft’s writ petition challenging a court-issued nondisclosure order that barred Microsoft from notifying its enterprise customer, USC, that the LAPD had served a search warrant on a USC graduate student’s email account.
First District affirms convictions for possessing an assault weapon and a large-capacity magazine, holding the inventory search of the defendant’s vehicle was lawful and that California’s assault-weapon and magazine bans survive Bruen.
First District denies habeas relief, holding that CDCR may constitutionally permit only educational merit credits — and not other prison conduct credits — to advance an inmate’s youth-parole eligibility date under Penal Code section 3051.