Supreme Court of California

In a prosecution including a count for violation of Penal Code section 246, which makes it unlawful for any person to maliciously and willfully discharge a firearm "at" an occupied motor vehicle, the court of appeal's overturning of the defendant's conviction on that count is reversed, where: 1) reliable extrinsic aids to statutory construction showed that the legislature intended section 246 to apply to a person standing outside an occupied motor vehicle and shooting into it, even if the gun has crossed the plane of the vehicle; and 2) because the legislative intent could be discerned, there was no need to invoke the rule of lenity as an interpretive "tie-breaking principle."

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/08/2012
• Published 03/08/2012

Judges

• Baxter

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Arthur Martin, Christine Levingston Bergman