Criminal threats - erroneous instructions
People v. Jackson (6th Dist., 10/22/09, H032539) ___ Cal.App.4th ___
Jury should have been instructed that to find defendant guilty of attempted criminal threat, it must find that he specifically intended to make threat that could "reasonably cause the person to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her family's safety." (People v. Toledo (2001) 26 Cal.4th 221, 231.)
Multiple punishment - lewd acts against child
People v. Alvarez (4th Dist., 10/28/09, G040739) ___ Cal.App.4th ___
Even when defendant has one objective - sexual gratification - Penal Code section 654 does not apply unless crimes were either incidental to or means by which another crime was accomplished. Here, separate violations could have been for own arousal and not as means of committing additional sexual contact.
Search & seizure - exigent circumstances
People v. Hochstraser (6th Dist., 10/27/09, H032765) ___ Cal.App.4th ___
Police could enter apartment to conduct welfare check after receiving report of possible domestic violence and missing child from victim's daughter. They found defendant at home, who acted strange and "spacey" and confirmed he'd had a fight the day before, and he did not know where vic was. Cops found the vic's ID and car keys. Police then searched defendant's mother's car, which defendant said he had borrowed from her. Inside a plastic bag inside a plastic container they found the vic's dismembered body. Held, entry into apartment justified by exigent circumstances, following People v. Rogers (2009) 46 Cal.4th 1136. Defendant did not have standing to complain of search of vic's fanny pack (where keys and ID found), and that search gave them probable cause to search car under automobile exception to warrant requirement. (California v. Acevedo (1991) 500 U.S. 565.)
Threatening texts - insufficient evidence
In re C.C. (3rd Dist., 10/27/09, C061230) ___ Cal.App.4th ___
Butte County Superior Court Judge Tamara Mosbarger erred in finding minor guilty of sending threatening or obscene texts (PC 653m) because the texts were neither threatening nor obscene, as he did not threaten physical harm, as required by statute, and vulgar language used did not qualify as obscene. The only real threat he made was to kill himself, not his girlfriend.
People v. Jackson (6th Dist., 10/22/09, H032539) ___ Cal.App.4th ___
Jury should have been instructed that to find defendant guilty of attempted criminal threat, it must find that he specifically intended to make threat that could "reasonably cause the person to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her family's safety." (People v. Toledo (2001) 26 Cal.4th 221, 231.)
Multiple punishment - lewd acts against child
People v. Alvarez (4th Dist., 10/28/09, G040739) ___ Cal.App.4th ___
Even when defendant has one objective - sexual gratification - Penal Code section 654 does not apply unless crimes were either incidental to or means by which another crime was accomplished. Here, separate violations could have been for own arousal and not as means of committing additional sexual contact.
Search & seizure - exigent circumstances
People v. Hochstraser (6th Dist., 10/27/09, H032765) ___ Cal.App.4th ___
Police could enter apartment to conduct welfare check after receiving report of possible domestic violence and missing child from victim's daughter. They found defendant at home, who acted strange and "spacey" and confirmed he'd had a fight the day before, and he did not know where vic was. Cops found the vic's ID and car keys. Police then searched defendant's mother's car, which defendant said he had borrowed from her. Inside a plastic bag inside a plastic container they found the vic's dismembered body. Held, entry into apartment justified by exigent circumstances, following People v. Rogers (2009) 46 Cal.4th 1136. Defendant did not have standing to complain of search of vic's fanny pack (where keys and ID found), and that search gave them probable cause to search car under automobile exception to warrant requirement. (California v. Acevedo (1991) 500 U.S. 565.)
Threatening texts - insufficient evidence
In re C.C. (3rd Dist., 10/27/09, C061230) ___ Cal.App.4th ___
Butte County Superior Court Judge Tamara Mosbarger erred in finding minor guilty of sending threatening or obscene texts (PC 653m) because the texts were neither threatening nor obscene, as he did not threaten physical harm, as required by statute, and vulgar language used did not qualify as obscene. The only real threat he made was to kill himself, not his girlfriend.
