Supreme Court of California

In a prosecution of defendant for felony murders, judgment of a court of appeal setting aside a superior court's ruling prohibiting the prosecution at issue based on the doctrine of nonmutual collateral estoppel is affirmed where: 1) a verdict regarding one defendant has no effect on the trial of a different defendant, and courts should determine the propriety of a prosecution based on that prosecutions' own record, not a different record; and 2) nonmutual estoppel does not apply to verdicts in criminal cases.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/08/2010
• Published 02/08/2010

Judges

• CHIN, J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Michael P. Farrell, Assistant Attorney General, John G. McLean, R. Todd Marshall and George M. Hendrickson, Deputy Attorneys General, for Petitioner., Mitchell Keiter as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner., S. Michelle May, under appointment by the Supreme Court; Scott and Heitman and Justin B. Scott for Real Party in Interest.


• For Appellees:
  
• No appearance for Respondent.