Nuccio v. Bonta — Federal Challenge to State Postconviction Records Ruling Dismissed
The court granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss without leave to amend on three independent grounds.
Uncategorized
Constitutional
Uncategorized
Gardea v. Best Cafe — Court Questions Supplemental Jurisdiction over Unruh Act Claim
The court issued an Order to Show Cause directing Plaintiff to show cause within 14 days why the court should not dismiss her Unruh Act claim without prejudice under § 1367(c)(4).
Uncategorized
Y.Y.B.M. v. Salazar — Court Orders Prompt Sponsorship Decision for Detained Children
The Court granted a conditional writ of habeas corpus, finding that Petitioners’ continued detention without a final sponsorship decision violates procedural due process under the Fifth Amendment.
Uncategorized
Eugenio v. Sprouts Farmers Market — Website-tracking allegations prompt Article III show-cause order
The court ordered Sprouts to justify federal jurisdiction by November 13 after finding the complaint’s website-tracking and data-value allegations insufficient to show a concrete Article III injury.
Uncategorized
Junior Oraze v. Christopher LaRose, et al. — Due process requires notice and a hearing before re-detaining a noncitizen released on parole
The Southern District of California granted Junior Oraze’s habeas petition, holding that ICE violated due process by re-detaining him without notice, reasons, or a hearing after more than two years on parole.
Uncategorized
Antonio Lopez-Zacarias v. Warden, Otay Mesa Detention Center, et al. — Court Grants in Part and Denies in Part Habeas Petition, Orders Bond Hearing Within Fourteen Days or Release
The district court granted in part and denied in part a Guatemalan national’s habeas petition, ordering immigration officials to provide an individualized bond hearing within fourteen days or release him from custody, and denying without prejudice his request for immediate release from detenti
Uncategorized
Pedro Luis Madrigal v. M. Kibbee, et al. — Prisoner’s Grievance-Processing and SB 483 Referral Claims Dismissed Without Prejudice for Failure to State a Claim
The court granted a prisoner leave to proceed in forma pauperis but dismissed his Section 1983 complaint without prejudice because the defendants merely processed his grievances, he alleged no actual injury to court access, and any damages claim challenging his continued confinement was barred by He
Uncategorized
M.F. (a minor, by and through his Guardian ad Litem, R.S.), R.S., and A.F. v. San Dieguito Union High School; Rob Coppo, an individual; Angela Guerrero, an individual; Theresa Barnes, an individual; and DOES 1 through 10, inclusive — Court appoints R.S. as guardian ad litem for minor plaintiff M.F.
The court granted the plaintiffs’ motion and appointed R.S. as guardian ad litem for minor plaintiff M.F., finding no apparent divergent interests and concluding that R.S. would protect the minor’s rights.
Uncategorized
Arsen Yeghiazaryan v. Warden Desert View Annex Desert — Federal Court Grants Habeas Petition and Orders Immediate Release with Pre-Detention Hearing Protections
A federal district court overruled the government’s untimely objections, adopted a magistrate judge’s report, and ordered the immediate release of a detained noncitizen whose due process rights were violated, barring re-detention without an individualized hearing.
Uncategorized
The People v. Travis Sterling Merritt — Court denies rehearing and modifies opinion to correct date and age of prior robbery offenses
The Fourth District Court of Appeal denied Travis Sterling Merritt’s petition for rehearing and modified its opinion to state that his first strike offenses for four counts of robbery were committed when he was 17 years old, while expressly stating that the modifications do not effect a change
Uncategorized
The People v. Aaron Jahrootz Steele — Court upholds convictions for resisting officers, trespass, and threats while a related habeas order reverses one threat conviction
The Fourth District Court of Appeal, Division One, affirmed Aaron Jahrootz Steele’s convictions arising from a shopping-center confrontation, rejected his severance and due-process challenges, and left reversal of a separate threat conviction and any retrial or resentencing to a concurrently i
Uncategorized
In re Aaron Jahrootz Steele — Habeas relief vacates a threat conviction because counsel failed to request a mistake-of-fact instruction
The Court of Appeal vacated Steele’s count 6 conviction because his lawyer unreasonably failed to request a mistake-of-fact instruction supported by substantial evidence, while denying his Racial Justice Act claim without prejudice to refiling in superior court.
Uncategorized
The People v. Julia Marie Mildenberger — Court reverses puppy-care conviction for insufficient evidence, upholds cat-care conviction, and narrows medication probation condition
California’s Second District Court of Appeal reversed Julia Mildenberger’s misdemeanor conviction concerning eight puppies because the evidence did not show she left them in dangerous conditions overnight, but affirmed her conviction concerning outdoor cats, upheld the dependent-support
Uncategorized
People v. Hayes — Judgment of Conviction Affirmed; Third-Strike Sentence Vacated and Remanded for Full Resentencing
The Court of Appeal affirmed Hayes’s convictions but vacated his 50-years-to-life third-strike sentence and remanded for full resentencing because aggravated battery by gassing was not a serious or violent felony and no jury finding supported treating it as one.
Uncategorized
People v. Balu — Court of Appeal Affirms Judgment and 24-Year Sentence for Decades-Old Child Sexual Abuse, Rejecting Statute of Limitations and Evidentiary Challenges
The Third District Court of Appeal affirmed Balaji Balu’s conviction and 24-year prison sentence for 10 lewd acts on a minor, rejecting challenges to jury instructions on the statute of limitations’ corroboration requirement, the standard of proof, expert testimony on child sexual abuse
Uncategorized
In re A.T., The People v. A.T., A174081 (Cal. Ct. App., 1st Dist., Div. 5, Oct. 30, 2026) — Juvenile court properly required adult supervision for a ward’s contact with his minor sisters
The First District Court of Appeal affirmed a juvenile disposition requiring adult supervision for A.T.’s contact with minors, including his younger sisters, because his concealed abuse of a young cousin supported child-protection and rehabilitation interests while supervised family contact re
Uncategorized
People v. Owens — Juror’s concealment of his mother’s shooting death and unreported witness contacts required a new murder trial
The First District reversed the denial of Gary Owens’s new-trial motion because Juror No. 7 intentionally concealed his biological mother’s shooting death and withheld his unsettling contacts with Owens’s only defense witness, leaving a substantial likelihood of actual bias that the prosecution did
Uncategorized
People v. Scott — Restitution Fine Vacated and Remanded for Excessive Fines Analysis Under Kopp
The Court of Appeal vacated a $300 restitution fine and remanded for the trial court to consider an excessive fines objection under the California Supreme Court’s intervening decision in People v. Kopp, while otherwise affirming the judgment.
Uncategorized
Abner Eliezer Divas Ramirez v. Markwayne Mullin, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, et al. — Court orders immediate release of parolee re-detained without notice or hearing
The Southern District of California granted an amended habeas petition and ordered immediate release under preexisting conditions of release because the government re-detained a parolee without notice or a hearing, did not show lawful parole revocation, and claimed no flight risk or community danger
Uncategorized
George Varduashvili v. Christopher J. LaRose, Senior Warden, et al. — Magistrate judge recommends granting habeas petition over immigration detention without a pre-deprivation hearing
A federal magistrate judge recommended granting George Varduashvili’s habeas petition because his fourteen-month immigration detention without an individualized custody determination or bond hearing violated procedural due process.
Uncategorized
Rhoun Ricardo Vanhorne v. Warden, Mesa Verde Detention Facility, et al. — Magistrate Judge Recommends Dismissing Habeas Petition Challenging Immigration Detention
The magistrate judge recommends granting the motion to dismiss a Jamaican national’s § 2241 habeas petition, recommending findings that his detention is lawful under 8 U.S.C. § 1226(a) because he received a bond hearing and that his prolonged detention does not violate due process; the judge s
Uncategorized
Alejandro Guerrero-Moran v. Warden, California City Detention Center — Court grants habeas petition and orders bond hearing within 10 days
The Eastern District of California granted an immigration detainee’s habeas petition and ordered a bond hearing before a neutral decisionmaker within ten days, with release required if the hearing is not provided.
Uncategorized
Wilberth Antonio Montano Matamoros v. Warden, California Detention Center — Due process requires a pre-deprivation bond hearing before immigration re-detention
The district court granted an immigration detainee’s habeas petition and ordered his immediate release on the same conditions he was subject to immediately prior to his August 2026 detention, holding that due process requires a pre-deprivation bond hearing before a neutral arbiter before the g
Uncategorized
Kemar Llewellyn v. U.S. Attorney General, et al. — Re-detention after revocation of his bond without pre-deprivation notice and an opportunity to be heard violated due process and required immediate release
The district court granted Kemar Llewellyn’s habeas petition because, after his prior bond was revoked and he was re-detained, the government failed to provide notice and an opportunity to be heard at the outset of his detention, and a bond hearing nine months later did not cure the violation;