People v. Sanders – 9/29/2016

People v. Sanders

No. A142875 (opn 9/29/2016, mod 10/19/16, rev den 12/14/2016)

Year: 2016
Errors: Facts: Error/Omission
Court: 1st District, Div 5
Errors Found/Argued: Errors not found by another court

Summary: Court of Appeal regarded record deferentially with respect to the facts as a general rule of appellate procedure, inappropriate in the context of the issues on appeal. (See arg. I in petition for review.) The error was material, because appellant was convicted of 40-something counts of robbery arising from a dozen incidents over the court of several months’ time. He was labelled the “chrome revolver bandit” because though no one could ID him, they often (but not always) remembered the big Dirty Harry style revolver used by the culprit. The circumstantial evidence in the record was rife with gaps, and confidence in the outcome — a key fact in prejudice assessment — should have taken these gaps into consideration, rather than deferring them away.

Document links:
Court of Appeal Opinion w/modification (Google Scholar) 
Court of Appeal Opinion (PDF)
Petition for Rehearing (PDF)
Petition for Review (PDF)