California Court of Appeal

Conviction and sentence for burglary and possessing a completed check with the intent to defraud are affirmed where, although the trial court erred when it instructed jurors that the mistake of fact had to be actual and reasonable, when in fact an unreasonable belief was sufficient to negate specific intent, the error was harmless as defendant's planning and sophistication belied his mistake-of-fact defense. Moreover defendant's habeas petition alleging ineffective assistance of counsel is denied.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/27/2007
• Published 09/27/2007

Judges

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Daphne Sykes Scott, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant., Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Rhonda Cartwright-Ladendorf, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, and Kristen K. Chenelia, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.