LATEST SUMMARIES

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, ENTERTAINMENT LAW, ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
• Hollywood v. Superior Court

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
• Haraguchi v. Superior Court

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY, EVIDENCE
• People v. Superior Court (Humberto S.)

LATEST SUMMARIES

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, ENTERTAINMENT LAW, ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Hollywood v. Superior Court, No. S147954
Recusal against a prosecutor for alleged conflicts of interest, arising out of the prosecutor's consultations with the makers of a motion picture based on the defendant's story, is reversed and the case remanded where: 1) the court of appeal gave no deference to the trial court's findings of fact or its application of law to the facts when it chose to review the case de novo; 2) the possibility that the case might be a capital case did not warrant a heightened form of review; 3) the possible disclosure of confidential information when the prosecutor handed over files to the movie producers did not deprive defendant of a fair trial; 3) the prosecutor did not intend to disseminate an inflammatory portrayal of defendant since the prosecutor cooperated with the movie producers before defendant was captured, and the prosecutor sought to have defendant portrayed as accurately as possible in the movie; 4) the prosecutor had no present financial interest in the movie and the possibility of acclaim in high profile cases is endemic to these kinds of cases; and 5) recusal cannot be based on the totality of the circumstances, since an actual conflict is required beyond judicial condemnation of the prosecutor's actions. Read more in DOC...   Read more in PDF...

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Haraguchi v. Superior Court, No. S148207
Recusal against a prosecutor for alleged conflicts of interest, arising out of her authoring a novel with circumstances similar to a case she was trying, is reversed and the case remanded where: 1) the court of appeal gave no deference to the trial court's findings of fact or its application of law to the facts when it chose to review the case de novo since it was a case of first impression and appellate courts have an independent interest in policing pretrial error; 2) the trial court found that there was no financial incentive to prosecute the case in order to increase sales of the book; 3) the court of appeals imputed the views of the fictional character to the author; and 4) the publicity surrounding the book was not so great as to render a fair trial unlikely. Read more in DOC...   Read more in PDF...

CRIMINAL LAW & PROCEDURE, ETHICS & PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY, EVIDENCE
People v. Superior Court (Humberto S.), No. S149123
Recusal of several prosecutors for conflict of interest arising from their alleged representation of the victim's interests is reversed and remanded where: 1) the court of appeal was incorrect in deciding that the prosecutor's zealous advocacy in preventing disclosure of the victim's medical records was in bad faith; and 2) the participation of the prosecutor in third party discovery process did not amount to advocacy of the victim's interests merely because their interests are similar. Read more in DOC...   Read more in PDF...