P. v. Jones CA5
Defendant was charged with several crimes in connection with his false imprisonment of his girlfriend in a motel room. Before trial, the court declared a doubt as to defendant’s competency and suspended proceedings. After a psychologist evaluated defendant, the court reinstated proceedings. Shortly thereafter, the defense requested another competency hearing, but the request was denied.
At trial, evidence of two prior incidents of domestic violence were introduced. One of the incidents was an assault that allegedly occurred in 2012. The prosecutor in the present case also prosecuted the 2012 assault. Defendant was found not guilty of the 2012 assault and sued the prosecutor civilly for malicious prosecution. The civil case was dismissed about two months before the charges were filed in the present case. After he was convicted on all counts, defendant argued in a new trial motion that the prosecutor had a disabling conflict of interest arising from the civil suit.
Comments on P. v. Jones CA5