Earlier this week, I joined "Air Talk" on KPCC radio for a discussion of the California Supreme Court's recent criminal decisions, beginning with People v. Gutierrez, in which the Court reversed three convictions for the first time in many years based upon Batson/Wheeler (strikes from the jury pool based on minority status) error. So I thought we'd turn our attention to the issue we discussed – is the California Supreme Court turning in a more liberal direction in criminal cases?
In Table 221, we show the absolute numbers – the cases defendants have won, the partial affirmances and reversals, and the cases defendant have lost. For the first half of our period, defendants have won ten or more cases only four times – 1996 (11 wins); 1999 (15 wins); 2002 (11 wins) and 2005 (14 wins). The defense won nine cases each in 2000, 2001 and 2003. In 1998 and 2005, they won eight cases per year. In 1994 and 1997, they won five cases each year. In 1995, they won three cases.
In 1997 and 2003, defendants got partial affirmances and partial reversals in four cases. The Court won mixed results in three cases in 1998. In 1995, 1996, 2001, 2002 and 2004, the Court scored two mixed results per year. The Court had one mixed result per year in 1999, 2000 and 2005.
Between 2002 and 2005, the Court saw 50+ defense losses each year – 58 in 2002, 50 in 2003, 57 in 2004 and 52 in 2005. The Court had 40+ defense losses in 1995, 2000 and 2001 (44, 45 and 47, respectively). Defendants lost between thirty and forty cases in 1994 (36 cases); 1997 (35); 1998 (34); and 1999 (32). Finally, defendants lost 29 cases in 1996.
We report the percentage of criminal cases won by defendants in Table 222. Defendants won 31.25% of cases in 1999 and 26.19% in 1996. Every other year for the first half of the period, defendants lost between twenty and ten percent of the criminal cases. Defendants won between five and ten percent of criminal cases in 1997 (9.09%), 1998 (6.67%) and 2003 (6.35%).
Defendants lost two-thirds of cases in 1999 and 69.05% of cases in 1996. Defendants lost between seventy and eighty percent of their cases in 1997-1998 (79.55% and 75.56%) and 2003-2004 (79.37% and 78.08%). Defendants averaged less than seventy percent of their cases only in 1996 (69.05%) and 1999 (66.67%).
Join us back here tomorrow as we review the data for defense wins in criminal cases between 2006 and 2016.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
