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California Court of Appeal: Trial Court Abused Discretion Denying Compassionate Release Where Statutory Criteria Are Met
by Dale Chappell
The Court of Appeal of California, Fourth Appellate District, held on April 30, 2020, that the trial court abused its discretion when it denied a motion for compassionate release based upon considerations other than those set forth in Pen. Code § 1170, subd. (e).
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More from this issue:
- Police State: From Social Justice to Social Dominance, by Michael Fortino, Ph.D
- Sixth Circuit Vacates Firearms Possession Conviction; Government Showed Jury Unauthenticated Prejudicial Facebook Video Not Admitted as Evidence, by Matthew Clarke
- Tenth Circuit: Deputy ‘Trying to Help’ Doesn’t Make Search Permissible Under Community Caretaking Exception to Warrant Requirement, by Douglas Ankney
- Attacking the Guilty Plea: Establishing Prejudice in the Guilty Plea Context, by Dale Chappell
- Report Finds NYPD Officers Accidentally Deploy Tasers 25% of the Time, by Douglas Ankney
- California Supreme Court: § 459.5(b) Prohibits Charging Shoplifting and Theft for Same Property, by Douglas Ankney
- Fourth Circuit: IAC for Counsel’s Bad Advice That Open Plea Would Allow Appeal Denial of Motion to Suppress, by Dale Chappell
- Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court: GPS Monitoring Unreasonable When It Doesn’t Further Any Governmental Interest, by Douglas Ankney
- D.C. Circuit Reverses Nearly 50-Year-Old Murder Conviction Over Faulty Hair Evidence, by Dale Chappell
- Minnesota Supreme Court: Non-Identifying Information About CI Must Be Disclosed Upon Request, by Anthony Accurso
- Michigan Supreme Court Announces Court Must Inform Defendant of Consecutive Sentencing Authority When Accepting Plea, by David Reutter
- Seventh Circuit Reverses Denial of Motion to Suppress Because Police Lacked Reasonable Suspicion to Frisk, by Douglas Ankney
- Massachusetts Supreme Court: Officer’s Handling of Cellphone Exceeded Scope of Inventory Search, by Anthony Accurso
- FOIA Redaction Limbo: How Low They Will Go, by Edward Lyon
- U.S. District Court Chooses Judicial Remedy, Instead of § 2255, to Allow Out-of-Time Appeal, by Dale Chappell
- California Court of Appeal: Trial Court Abused Discretion Denying Compassionate Release Where Statutory Criteria Are Met, by Dale Chappell
- Colorado Supreme Court: Warrant Allowing General Search of Cellphone Unconstitutional Violation of Particularity Requirement, by Douglas Ankney
- Eleventh Circuit Holds Georgia Terroristic Threats Conviction Overbroad for ACCA, by Dale Chappell
- Policing is irrelevant for public safety — but these alternatives are proven to work, by Justin Podur/Independent Media Institute, AlterNet.com
- Myth of Technology as an Equalizing Force in Criminal Justice, by Anthony Accurso
- Fourth Circuit Requests Further Information on Stingray Device to Determine Whether It Violates Fourth Amendment Rights, by Anthony Accurso
- Kansas Supreme Court: District Court Failed to Apprise Defendant of Right to Jury Trial, by Douglas Ankney
- Oklahoma Enacts Jailhouse Informant Law, Joins Other States, by Dale Chappell
- South Carolina Supreme Court Overturns Murder Conviction Where State Presented Improper Testimony Regarding Trace DNA Evidence, by Douglas Ankney
- Iowa Supreme Court Announces That ‘Good Cause’ in Newly Amended Appeals Statute Means ‘a Legally Sufficient Reason’, by Douglas Ankney
- Two New Forensic DNA Standards Added to the OSAC Registry
- South Carolina Supreme Court: State Cannot Appeal Guilty Plea, by David Reutter
- Big Brother, as Well as Big Business, Are Tracking You: the Snitch in Your Own Pocket, Purse, or Belt Holder, by Edward Lyon
- Neuroscience and Criminal Cases, by Jayson Hawkins
- Maine Supreme Judicial Court Vacates Conviction on Double Jeopardy Grounds, by Douglas Ankney
- Eighth Circuit Affirms Habeas Relief Decades After Conviction Because Prosecutor Destroyed Evidence Prior to Trial, by Dale Chappell
- Eleventh Circuit Vacates Firearm Conviction Based on Rehaif, by Douglas Ankney
- Washington Supreme Court: Defendant Detained for Search at Border Was ‘In Custody’ for Miranda Purposes, by Douglas Ankney
- Fourth Circuit: Erroneous Career Offender Sentence Correctable in First Step Act Resentencing, by Dale Chappell
- Never Convicted but Never Exonerated, Either, by Edward Lyon
- Government Study Finds Facial Recognition Sorely Lacking in Accuracy, by Dale Chappell
- Idaho Exoneree Fights for Wrongful Conviction Compensation, by Edward Lyon
- Fifth Circuit Clarifies AEDPA Time Limit Tolling for Louisiana Prisoners Filing Federal Habeas Corpus, by Dale Chappell
- Missouri Shows Indifference to Human Life by Proceeding with Execution Amid Pandemic, by Douglas Ankney
- Dogs Can Detect One-Billionth of a Teaspoon of Gasoline, by Douglas Ankney
- Fulton County Prosecutor in Georgia to Expunge MLK and Other Civil Rights Leaders’ Records, But not Everyone Agrees, by Michael Fortino, Ph.D
- FBI Provides Fitness App in Exchange for Users’ GPS Coordinates, by Douglas Ankney
- Survey: California Cops Abusing Privacy Rights with Auto Plate Readers, by Jayson Hawkins
- Devastating Consequences of Chicago Gang Database – And No Way to Be Removed, by Bill Barton
- Strategies to Help Police Address Citizens With Special Needs, by Anthony Accurso
- New Method to Determine Time of Death for Forensic Investigators, by Kevin Bliss
- Using Doctor-Prescribed Marijuana Could Send Some People Back to Prison, by Douglas Ankney
- Small Forensics Lab Finds Niche in Analyzing Tiniest Bits of Evidence, by Dale Chappell
- Unrest After Kentucky Cops Shoot Sleeping Black Woman to Death in Her Bed While Serving No-Knock Warrant, by Edward Lyon
- Minnesota Lab Figures Out How to Tell Between Legal Hemp and Illegal Marijuana, by Dale Chappell
- $8 Million Settlement for Wrongfully Convicted and Imprisoned Missouri Man, by Kevin Bliss
- Police Use of Robotic Technology Raises Civil Liberty Concerns, by Douglas Ankney
- New York Police Act With Impunity During Protests, by Kevin Bliss
- News in Brief
More from Dale Chappell:
- Arguing Successful Federal Habeas Corpus Claims, June 1, 2025
- How to Take Your Postconviction Case Directly to the U.S. Supreme Court: A Roadmap to Direct Collateral Review, March 15, 2025
- Federal Habeas Corpus for State Prisoners: Proving Unreasonableness Under AEDPA, Feb. 1, 2025
- Federal Court Rules Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Laws Violate Constitution, Dec. 1, 2024
- Refuting the Government’s Argument Against Nonretroactive Changes in Law as Grounds for Compassionate Release, Oct. 1, 2024
- Federal Habeas Corpus: Getting Around Procedural Default, July 15, 2024
- The Death of the Savings Clause, May 15, 2024
- Federal Habeas Corpus: Understanding Second or Successive Petitions for State Prisoners, April 15, 2024
- Fourth Circuit Reinstates Relief From Death Penalty, Citing State’s Forfeiture of Argument Against Relief, May 15, 2023
- Federal Habeas Corpus: The Evidentiary Hearing for Federal Prisoners, April 15, 2023
More from these topics:
- California Court of Appeal Finds Trial Court Abused Discretion in Denying Prisoner Compassionate Release and Reverses Order, Oct. 1, 2026. Abuse of Discretion Standard, Insufficiency of the Evidence, Statutory Construction/Interpretation, Compassionate Release.
- Severely Ill Prisoners in Hawai‘i Denied Early Release Due to State Policy, Sept. 1, 2026. Cost of Prison Systems, housing, Restrictions, discrimination, Compassionate Release.
- Three Detainees Die in Four Days at the Tarrant County Jail, Aug. 1, 2026. Jail Misconduct, Statistics/Trends, Wrongful Death, Compassionate Release.
- SCOTUS Continues to Hack Away At First Step Act, July 1, 2026. Conditions of Confinement, PLRA, Post-release, ex-offender, re-entry, Sentences - Corrections or Modifications of, Compassionate Release.
- SCOTUS Announces Sentencing Disparities Created by Nonretroactive Statutory Amendments Cannot Constitute Extraordinary and Compelling Reasons for Compassionate Release, June 1, 2026. First Step Act, Mandatory Minimum Sentence, Statutory Construction/Interpretation, Sentencing Disparity, Compassionate Release.
- Florida Federal Court Excoriates BOP for Health Care Failures, Grants Prisoner Early Release to Seek Treatment for Possible Breast Cancer, June 1, 2026. DOC/BOP misconduct, Systemic Medical Neglect, Cancer, Failure to Treat, Compassionate Release.
- Watchdog Blasts BOP for Failure to Treat Prisoner’s Preventable Cancer, March 1, 2026. Systemic Medical Neglect, Cancer, Failure to Treat, Contempt (Civil Procedure), Compassionate Release.
- Alaska Deaths in Custody Tie Record High, Feb. 1, 2026. DOC/BOP misconduct, Systemic Medical Neglect, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Deliberate Indifference, Compassionate Release.
- Washington Prisoners Gain Access to Crisis Hotline, Nov. 1, 2025. Statistics/Trends, Failure to Protect (General), Suicides, Deliberate Indifference, Compassionate Release.
- Wisconsin DOC Ordered to Provide Programming for Pregnant Prisoners—34 Years After Law Was Passed, Nov. 1, 2025. Gender Discrimination -- Women, Injunctions, Mothers in Prison, Statutes of Limitation and Laches, Compassionate Release.





