California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Scott, 229 Cal.App.3d 707, 280 Cal.Rptr. 274 (Cal. App. 1991):
Appellant's secondary argument is that even if an accusatory pleading, such as the instant one, generally provides notice of felony-murder, it fails to do so when "there was no evidence of robbery or attempted robbery at the preliminary hearing," "the felony-murder concept was not raised at voir dire," there was "little of such evidence at the trial," and the prosecutor's "belated request" for such jury instructions was objected to by appellant. Appellant relies upon Sheppard v. Rees (9th Cir.1990) 909 F.2d 1234.
As People v. Crawford (1990) 224 Cal.App.3d 1, 7, 273 Cal.Rptr. 472 observed, "the Attorney General [in Sheppard ] argued its murder pleading practice afforded the defendant adequate notice, but conceded the prosecutor's conduct 'affirmatively misled the defendant, denying him an effective opportunity to prepare a defense'."
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