Can a defendant be prosecuted for or convicted of an offense not shown by the evidence at the preliminary hearing?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Bolden, 2d Crim. No. B279782 (Cal. App. 2017):

A defendant cannot "constitutionally be prosecuted for or convicted of an offense not shown by the evidence at the preliminary hearing . . . ." (People v. Burnett (1999) 71 Cal.App.4th 151, 181; see also 1009 [an information "cannot be amended . . . so as to charge an offense not shown by the evidence taken at the preliminary examination"].) Appellant argues that, based on the prosecutor's closing argument, the jury could have convicted him of committing a lewd act by digitally penetrating K.S.'s vagina. The People concede, "At the preliminary hearing, there was no evidence of digital presentation presented." Appellant contends that "one of [his] lewd act convictions [that could have been] based on . . . digital penetration [must be reversed] because there was no preliminary hearing evidence of any such penetration of [K.S.'s] vagina."

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