Category: Criminal Procedure

California District Attorneys Petition to Repeal Release of 76,000 Inmates

by · May 14, 2021 10:57 am

Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert, joined by 40 other elected DAs,  submitted this petition to the Secretary of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to, “…repeal the temporary emergency regulations contained in the Minimum Security Credit and Inmate Credit Earning rule making action filed with the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) on April 8, 2021.”   The regulations give 76,000 criminals in state prisons eligibility for early release. 

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Another Violent Felon Released from Prison Early to Commit More Crimes

by · May 13, 2021 3:10 pm

The Sacramento Bee has this story on Alberto Quiroz, who was sentenced to ten years in state prison for the events in the 2017 death of CHP Officer Lucas Chellew who died as a result of injuries sustained in a high-speed chase with Quiroz through South Sacramento.  Quiroz had 5 previous failures to appear on unrelated charges and previous cases. He was arrested on May 5th for assaulting one of his family members with a semi-automatic weapon. So the question is, why was he released less than three and a half years into this sentence?? Below is the answer offered by corrections spokeswoman, Dana Simas. 

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California to Release over 70,000 Inmates

by · May 3, 2021 10:30 am

The Associated Press has this story on the early release of thousands of inmates; “California is giving 76,000 inmates, including violent and repeat felons, the opportunity to leave prison earlier…” This is result of a promise made by Governor Newsom to decrease prison populations throughout the state of California and close prisons.  Thanks to Proposition 57 (adopted in 2016) state prison inmates, even those convicted of violent crimes, receive “good time” credits to reduce their sentences by up to 50%.  Last year approximately 21,000 inmates in California were released from prison. There will be a total of 3 prison closures in California by next year.

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CA Law Abolishing Felony Murder Gives Child Killer Re-sentencing Opportunity

by · Apr 9, 2021 11:26 am

A 2018 bill (SB 1437) signed into law by then-Governor Jerry Brown, made a change in the California Penal Code (PC 1170.95) which is providing Pearl Fernandez, convicted in 2018 of the torture murder of her 8-year-old son Gabriel, with an opportunity to have her sentence of life in prison overturned. According to this article from Fox 11, “In her petition, Fernandez declares changes made to Penal Codes 188/189 (which took effect in 2019) alter how malice is imputed on someone, that would possibly alter her murder conviction.” Fernandez’s hearing is scheduled for June 1st in Los Angeles Superior Court according to this article by Bradford Betz of Fox News. 

Pearl Fernandez plead guilty to first-degree murder and a special circumstance allegation of torture, as discussed by Betz.  Gabriel was determined to have been abused and neglected time and time again, Betz explained, “An autopsy revealed the boy had a fractured skull, multiple broken ribs and burns on his body.” Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami stated in a Tweet, “Gabriel’s family now has to relive all the horror that was perpetrated upon a small and helpless child. It is plain wrong and completely unjust.”    Question:  Will District Attorney George Gascón allow his office to oppose this murderer’s petition? 

What To Make of Plea Bargaining?

by · Jan 31, 2021 8:53 pm

The Federalist Society student chapter at Arizona State was kind enough to host Clark Neily of Cato and me for a discussion of the modern state of plea bargaining.  Is it a coercive and reckless tool for overbearing prosecutors, and one that all but eliminates the citizen participation the Founders thought essential for the criminal justice system, or a reasonably reliable tool for the government to adjudicate the flood of criminal cases and provide justice to many more crime victims than would otherwise be possible?

Clark  —  a gentleman throughout  —  and I have at it here.

Statutes of Limitations and Rape in the Military

by · Dec 10, 2020 10:34 am

The U.S. Supreme Court today upheld three court-martial convictions for rape, interpreting the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) statute of limitations in effect at the time as imposing no limit on rape prosecutions in the military. In the process, the Court found it unnecessary to decide whether the Eighth Amendment limitation of Coker v. Georgia (1977), forbidding the death penalty for rape, applies to the military. Continue reading . . .

The Eighth Amendment and Statutes of Limitations

by · Oct 13, 2020 3:46 pm

What do statutes of limitations and the constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual punishments” have to do with each other? The logical answer is “nothing.” But the law follows strange paths, and the two issues crossed in today’s Supreme Court argument on the statute of limitations for rape in the military justice system. Continue reading . . .

Obstructing Justice on the Pretense of Redressing Discrimination

by · Oct 2, 2020 4:15 pm

The criminal justice system takes too long and costs too much. That is why the much-criticized practice of plea bargaining is a necessary evil. That is why actually carrying out the just, deserved sentences for the very worst murderers is the exception and not the rule.

So what did California Governor Gavin Newsom do Wednesday? He signed a bill to make the problem worse, layering a large, expensive, and time-consuming new burden on the already staggering system. The pretense for AB 2542 (now Chapter 317, Statutes of 2020) is redressing racial discrimination, but it will not do any good along those lines, while it will do much harm. Continue reading . . .