United States Ninth Circuit

In this capital case, the California Supreme Court's construction of the special circumstance elements of robbery and lying in wait did not constitute an impermissible retroactive judicial modification of the law.

Appellate Information

• Argued 10/07/2003
• Decided 03/05/2004
• Published 03/05/2004

Judges

• Before: SCHROEDER, Chief Judge, and THOMAS and CLIFTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Patrick J. Whalen, Stan Cross, Jo Graves, and Robert Anderson, Office of the Attorney General of the State of California, Sacramento, CA, for the appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• James S. Thomson and Saor E. Stetler, Thomson & Stetler, Berkeley, California;  and Joseph Sclesinger, Assistant Federal Defender, and Quinn Denvir, Federal Defendant, Sacramento, CA, for the appellee.