The Supreme Court had a double conference yesterday. Besides denying a county’s challenge to COVID stay-at-home orders, the court’s actions of note included:
- The court granted review in People v. Duke, and it limited the issue to: “Can the People meet their burden of establishing a petitioner’s ineligibility for resentencing under Penal Code section 1170.95, subdivision (d)(3) by presenting substantial evidence of the petitioner’s liability for murder under Penal Code sections 188 and 189 as amended by Senate Bill No. 1437 (Stats. 2018, ch. 1015), or must the People prove every element of liability for murder under the amended statutes beyond a reasonable doubt?” (Links added.) SB 1437 cases are regulars on the court’s docket, although not those regarding the legislation’s constitutionality (see here); just last month the court issued an opinion in an SB 1437 case. In Duke, the Second District, Division One, Court of Appeal, in a published opinion, affirmed the denial of a resentencing petition, concluding that, “[u]nder any standard of review,” the superior court correctly found “ ‘beyond a reasonable doubt that there was sufficient evidence presented to show’ that Duke acted with the intent to kill.”
- The court denied review in Doe v. Google, a case under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act, but Justice Goodwin Liu recorded a vote to hear the case. The First District, Division Four, 2-1 published opinion held that claims challenging confidentiality policies as violating employee speech rights under California law were not preempted by the federal National Labor Relations Act.
- There were 19 criminal case grant-and-holds: 12 more holding for a decision in People v. Lewis (see here), two more holding for People v. Lopez (see here), two more holding for People v. Raybon (see here), one more holding for People v. Tirado (see here), one more holding for People v. Esquivel (see here and here), and one more holding for People v. Garcia and People v. Valencia (see here).