Actions of note at yesterday’s Supreme Court conference — the first one since April that was not a double conference — included:
- Supreme Court allows commutation of three-strikes sentence; action on long-pending clemency request deferred.
- The court denied review in Valley Baptist Church v. City of San Rafael. The First District, Division One, Court of Appeal’s published opinion in the case held a city could collect from a church a special tax imposed on all nonresidential structures to fund paramedic services. The appellate court concluded taxing the church in this way didn’t violate the California Constitution’s exclusion from “property taxation” for those buildings and land that are “used exclusively for religious worship.”
- The court also declined to hear People v. Scott, but there was one recorded vote in dissent, by Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar. In a 2-1 unpublished opinion, the Fourth District, Division Two, held sufficient evidence supported the finding that, for sentence enhancement purposes, a prior conviction was for a serious felony. The dissenting appellate court justice characterized the majority opinion as a “straightforward violation” of the Supreme Court’s 2017 decision in People v. Gallardo (2017) 4 Cal.5th 120, which restricts the fact finding a trial court may do in determining the nature of a prior conviction.
- The court ordered a superior court hearing on a habeas corpus petition’s claim of juror misconduct. Last month, the Supreme Court reversed the petitioner’s death penalty, but affirmed the conviction, in People v. Nieves (2021) 11 Cal.5th 404. That’s similar procedurally to what the court did in the Scott Peterson case.
- There were 18 criminal case grant-and-holds: one holding for decisions in both People v. Esquivel, which was decided today, and People v. Hernandez (see here); two more holding for People v. Lewis (see here), which was argued last month (that’s a total of 287 Lewis grant-and-holds); two more holding for People v. Raybon (see here), which was also argued last month; three more holding for People v. Lopez (see here); two more holding for People v. Delgadillo (see here); one more holding for People v. Duke (see here); one more holding for People v. Strong (see here); three more holding for People v. Williams (see here); one more holding for People v. Tirado (see here); one more holding for In re Mohammad (see here); and one more holding for People v. Aguayo (see here and here).
- The court off-loaded three grant-and-holds. Review was dismissed in McHenry v. Asylum Entertainment Delaware, LLC, and in Annie G. v. Glacial Garden Skating Arenas, LLC, both of which had been waiting (see here and here) for the April decision in Brown v. USA Taekwondo (2021) 11 Cal.5th 204. The court also dismissed review in a criminal case that had been waiting for the March decision in In re Humphrey (2021) 11 Cal.5th 135.