People v. Forest
Annotate this CaseIn November 2006, defendant pointed a handgun at Douglass. Defendant was arrested the next day and charged with felony assault with a deadly weapon. Following a preliminary hearing, his motion to set aside the information was denied. The case never went to trial. In January 2008, the court granted the prosecution’s motion to dismiss for insufficient evidence. In October 2008, defendant unsuccessfully sought a finding of factual innocence, Pen. Code 851.8(c). In 2016, defendant unsuccessfully sought to vacate the 2008 denial by writ of coram nobis. The court of appeal denied defendant’s petition as “no more than his latest attempt to persuade a tribunal to accept, as a matter of law, that he acted in self-defense.” The victim and an independent witness testified under oath, subject to cross-examination, at the preliminary hearing. Defendant could have testified to self-defense but did not do so. The judge who heard the evidence found probable cause to believe that felony assault with a firearm had been committed. Defendant also unsuccessfully tried to convince two federal courts that he was falsely arrested. Defendant has not presented “new facts” that dispel the probability his asserted belief he was in imminent danger of bodily harm was unreasonable under the circumstances, and that he used more force than was reasonably necessary to defend against the perceived danger.
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