Fear Not Law Articles: People v. Standish Part I

People v. Standish

Filed 6/5/06

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, )

)

Plaintiff and Appellant, )

) S129755

v. )

) Ct.App. 2/3 B166344

JARED JACOB STANDISH, )

) Los Angeles County

Defendant and Respondent. ) Super. Ct. No. MA025716

__________________________________ )

Two principal issues are presented in this case. The first is whether defendant was entitled to be released from custody on his own recognizance (OR), subject to reasonable conditions, when his preliminary examination was continued for good cause beyond the 10-day period specified in Penal Code section 859b.^{^[1]}

The second question needs to be reached only if we answer the first question in the affirmative. That question is whether the failure to grant defendant OR release pending his preliminary examination constituted a violation of a substantial right entitling him to have the information set aside pursuant to section 995.

For the reasons explained below, we conclude defendant was entitled to OR release when the preliminary examination was continued for good cause, but that the court's failure to grant him OR release pending the preliminary examination did not amount to denial of a substantial right at the preliminary examination within the meaning of section 995, in the absence of evidence that the error reasonably might have affected the outcome of that hearing.

Testimony introduced at the preliminary examination indicated that, on an occasion during the first week of April 2002, defendant held his two-year-old daughter over a second-floor balcony railing, while neighbors urged him to bring the child to safety. On April 5, 2002, defendant killed his wife's cat. His daughter witnessed some of the events constituting the assault on the cat. A neighbor, Annette Madison, who had witnessed the child-dangling incident, found the headless body of the cat on her balcony. Madison telephoned the police, and defendant was arrested. The Court of Appeal surmised from an incomplete record that a complaint was filed charging defendant with criminal offenses arising from the two incidents.

After a short time in custody, defendant was released on bail. Upon his return home, he saw Madison as she approached her apartment, and stated, â€

Description	Defendant was entitled to be released from custody on his own recognizance, subject to reasonable conditions, when his preliminary examination was continued for good cause beyond the 10-day period specified in Penal Code Sec. 859b. Defendant was not entitled to have information set aside after trial court wrongly failed to grant defendant OR release pending his preliminary examination unless error reasonably might have affected the outcome of the preliminary examination.
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