Latest 2 Cases: State v. Conroy (Civil Rights), State v. Jones (Criminal Law)

Reflections on the Movement in California to Repeal the State’s Ban on Affirmative Action

VIKRAM DAVID AMAR

Illinois law dean and professor Vikram David Amar offers three observations on a measure recently approved by the California legislature that would, if approved by the voters, repeal Proposition 209, the voter initiative that has prohibited affirmative action by the state and its subdivisions since its passage in 1996. Amar praises the California legislature for seeking to repeal Prop 209 and for seeking to do so using the proper procedures, and he suggests that if Prop 209 is repealed, legal rationales for the use of race should be based not only on the value of diversity (as they have been for some time now), but also on the need to remedy past wrongs against Black Americans.

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State v. Conroy

Docket: SCWC-12-0000537

Opinion Date: July 1, 2020

Judge: Michael D. Wilson

Areas of Law: Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law

The Supreme Court affirmed the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals and the circuit court's judgment convicting Defendant of assault in the second degree, holding that the prosecutor's misconduct in this case violated Defendant's due process right to a fair trial. Defendant was convicted of assault in the second degree in connection with an incident involving Defendant's wife (CW). The only witnesses to the incident at the time the injury were Defendant and CW. During trial, the prosecutor made at least eight improper statements during closing argument, and the misconduct affected the central issue to Defendant's self-defense claim of whether he acted with the intent to protect himself. The Supreme Court remanded the case, holding that the strength of the evidence in support of self-defense, the protracted nature of the prosecutorial misconduct, and the court's ineffective curative instructions led to the conclusion that the misconduct was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.

State v. Jones

Docket: SCWC-16-0000345

Opinion Date: June 30, 2020

Judge: Sabrina S. McKenna

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

The Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the intermediate court of appeals (ICA) and the district court's judgment convicting Defendant of operating a vehicle under the influence of an intoxicant (OVUII), holding that the ICA gravely erred as a matter of law in finding that even if the district court erroneously allowed a police officer to opine that Defendant failed standardized field sobriety tests (SFSTs), the error was harmless. Specifically, the Supreme Court held (1) the district court erred by permitting Officer Joshua Wong to express an expert opinion that Defendant "failed" the SFSTs, and the error was not harmless beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) the district court erred in permitting expert opinion testimony that Defendant had a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or above; (3) the district court did not err in permitting expert opinion testimony that Defendant was intoxicated, but, prospectively, police officers may no longer testify, whether in a lay or expert capacity, that a driver appeared "intoxicated"; and (4) Defendant's conviction was supported by substantial evidence.