People v. Linville
Annotate this CaseLinville was charged with two counts of murder. The first victim, transient Amber Chappell, was killed after midnight on a remote road in Cordelia after Linville and her boyfriend picked her up for a ride. The second victim, Christina Baxley, was killed later the same day in Dixon when the couple spotted her taking her walking her dog. A jury deadlocked concerning Chappell but found Linville guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Baxley. Previously, she pled guilty and was sentenced to a three-year prison term for being an accessory after the fact to the killings, having disposed of the vehicle used in the killings. At the time she denied any involvement in either shooting. Her accessory conviction was based on the premise her boyfriend had committed the murders and Linville got rid of the vehicle to help him evade detection. On appeal, she argued that because her prior conviction involved the same murders, her murder prosecution was prohibited by Penal Code section 654 because the prosecution knew or should have known of the potential murder charges when it charged her the first time. The court of appeal rejected the argument. While the accessory charge and the homicide charges involved the same killings, the same course of conduct did not play a significant part in both prosecutions and section 654 does not apply.
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