Opinion ID: 2599880
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Motion to Dismiss the Information (Lewis, Oliver)

Text: Defendants contend the information should have been dismissed based on their motion for insufficient evidence to commit them to superior court for trial. (§ 995.) They challenge the trial court's ruling under state law, and claim it had the additional legal consequence of denying them due process under both the Fourteenth Amendment and parallel provisions of the state Constitution. [5] The information was filed on December 21, 1989, and amended on February 21, 1990. On August 21, 1990, Lewis moved to set aside the information for insufficient evidence  a motion that Oliver joined. At a hearing on August 24, 1990, Lewis admitted that the motion lacked an adequate recitation of the relevant facts, and asked informally for a delay in adjudicating it. The trial court decided to proceed. It denied the motion, but offered to reconsider its ruling if defendants presented new reasons to do so. Defendants failed to renew the motion. Irregularities in pretrial commitment proceedings that are not jurisdictional in the fundamental sense require reversal on appeal only where the defendant shows he was deprived of due process or suffered prejudice as a result. ( People v. Millwee (1998) 18 Cal.4th 96, 121, 74 Cal. Rptr.2d 418, 954 P.2d 990, citing People v. Pompa-Ortiz (1980) 27 Cal.3d 519, 529, 165 Cal.Rptr. 851, 612 P.2d 941.) Errors in the denial of a section 995 motion claiming insufficiency of the evidence are not jurisdictional in the fundamental sense. (See, e.g., People v. Mattson (1990) 50 Cal.3d 826, 870, 268 Cal.Rptr. 802, 789 P.2d 983.) Thus, even assuming defendants have not forfeited their claim by abandoning their pretrial efforts to dismiss the case, they have not shown any prejudice warranting relief. As we shall discuss, the evidence was sufficient to support the guilt verdict.