There will be six cases on the Supreme Court’s April calendar. Half of them are death penalty appeals and another is a non-capital murder case that has been awaiting oral argument for quite a while. The latter old case (old for a non-death-penalty matter, that is) might be one that was stuck because of a 3-3 division of the permanent justices during the long time it took to fill the vacancy created by Justice Kathryn Werdegar’s retirement.
On April 3 and 4, in Los Angeles, the court will hear the following cases (with the issue presented as summarized by court staff or stated by the court itself):
People v. Canizales: Was the jury properly instructed on the “kill zone” theory of attempted murder? This is the old case. The court granted review in November 2014, briefing was completed three years ago, and the court sent an oral argument letter in November 2016.
City and County of San Francisco v. Regents of the University of California: Can a charter city require state universities that operate paid parking lots within the city to comply with an ordinance that requires parking lot operators to collect from their customers and remit to the city a tax on the fee charged for a parking space? The court granted review in September 2017. Second District, Division Five, Court of Appeal Justice Lamar Baker is sitting pro tem. The docket doesn’t say who is recused, but we’re guessing it’s Justice Joshua Groban because the other six justices have already participated in the case, all of them voting to grant review.
Stoetzl v. State of California, Department of Human Resources: Does the definition of “hours worked” found in the Industrial Wage Commission’s Wage Order 4, as opposed to the definition of that term found in the federal Labor Standards Act, constitute the controlling legal standard for determining the compensability of time that correctional employees spend after signing in for duty and before signing out but before they arrive at and after they leave their actual work posts within a correctional facility? The court granted review in November 2017.
People v. Mitchell: This is an automatic direct appeal from an October 2006 judgment of death. The court’s website does not list issues for such cases. Counsel was appointed in June 2010 and briefing was completed in September 2016.
People v. Molano: This is an automatic direct appeal from a February 2008 judgment of death. The court’s website does not list issues for such cases. Counsel was appointed in April 2011 and briefing was completed in October 2014.
People v. Mendez: This is an automatic direct appeal from a November 2004 judgment of death. The court’s website does not list issues for such cases. Counsel was appointed in January 2009 and briefing was completed in January 2013.