Opinion ID: 2626390
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Acquittal Defense

Text: Defendant contends he was prosecuted and acquitted for the factor (b) sex crimes in Texas, and that such acts were therefore barred under section 190.3. According to this theory, the grand jury's failure to indict defendant under a probable cause standard constituted an implied determination that he was not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Defendant is mistaken. Section 190.3 expressly permits proof of any violent criminal activity, whether or not it led to prosecution and conviction, except as to any offense resulting in an acquittal. ( People v. Melton, supra, 44 Cal.3d 713, 754, 244 Cal.Rptr. 867, 750 P.2d 741.) We have strictly limited this statutory notion of an acquittal to a judicial determination on the merits of the truth or falsity of the charge. ( People v. Bacigalupo, supra, 1 Cal.4th 103, 133-134, 2 Cal.Rptr.2d 335, 820 P.2d 559; People v. Jennings (1991) 53 Cal.3d 334, 390, 279 Cal.Rptr. 780, 807 P.2d 1009.) Thus, an acquittal after prosecution does not occur for purposes of section 190.3 where the trial court dismissed the case under section 995 for lack of probable cause as to guilt. ( People v. Ghent (1987) 43 Cal.3d 739, 774, 239 Cal.Rptr. 82, 739 P.2d 1250.) We have reached the same result even where a statutory bar prevents refiling of the dismissed charge. ( People v. Medina (1990) 51 Cal.3d 870, 907, 274 Cal.Rptr. 849, 799 P.2d 1282.) Here, there was no judicial determination on the merits as to whether defendant forcibly sodomized his daughters. The Texas proceeding involved a discretionary charging decision by the grand jury. Indeed, it seems even further removed from an acquittal than a section 995 proceeding in which pending criminal charges are dismissed by a judge. Nothing in the grand jury proceeding itself prevented defendant from being later charged, prosecuted, and convicted of the same crimes. None of the features commonly associated with acquittals exist here. (Cf. People v. Hatch (2000) 22 Cal.4th 260, 271, 92 Cal. Rptr.2d 80, 991 P.2d 165 [double jeopardy principles bar retrial if court finds evidence at trial was insufficient to support conviction as matter of law].) The trial court properly reached the same result.