California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Edwards, F058989, Super. Ct. No. VCF212700, Super. Ct. No. VCF220922 (Cal. App. 2011):
The parties' briefs are devoted, in large part, to a discussion of whether the district attorney knew or should have known about appellant's participation in the burglaries before his plea and conviction in Case 1. The parties disagree as to the standard of review to be used. We agree with respondent that we are to construe the evidence in the light most favorable to the finder of fact and uphold factual findings that are supported by substantial evidence. (See, e.g., People v. Davis (2005) 36 Cal.4th 510, 558 [substantial evidence supported the trial court's finding that government made reasonable efforts to discover additional facts during initial prosecution].)
In People v. Turner (1985) 171 Cal.App.3d 116, the defendant pled guilty to felony inhumane corporal punishment on a child. He was subsequently charged with sexual offenses. In the course of this second prosecution, it was discovered that the defendant had committed some of the sex offenses against the same victim on the same day as the crime for which he had been earlier prosecuted. (Id. at pp. 121-122.) The defendant filed a motion to dismiss the second prosecution.
In support of the motion, the defendant's former counsel filed a declaration stating that, on the day of the preliminary hearing in the first case, the deputy district attorney informed him that there might be added allegations of sexual fondling because there may have been an indication of that in the past, and if such charges would be filed, the deputy district attorney would inform counsel of such. (People v. Turner, supra, 171 Cal.App.3d at p. 122.) The record showed that, before the defendant pled guilty to the corporal punishment charge, a probation officer contacted the deputy district attorney and expressed concern that the defendant might be sexually abusing the child. The probation officer's concern arose from a battery of the child that occurred five years earlier when there had also been a report of molestation. The prosecutor filed his own declaration in which he stated that the defendant had been suspected of sexually abusing his daughter some years earlier, but that there was no current evidence to establish a basis for any
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