Garcia v. Super. Ct.
Annotate this CaseIn 2016, petitioner Daniel Garcia was diagnosed as having porphyria, an extremely rare condition that is potentially fatal, especially if not properly treated. Garcia was in jail awaiting trial on charges including murder. Garcia made a series of requests for testing, evaluation, treatment, and preventive measures to deal with his porphyria. The trial court granted some of them (which may not even have been contested). However, when Garcia made an ex parte application for multiple measures — including being given protective clothing, being kept out of direct sunlight, and being transported only in air-conditioned vehicles with tinted windows — the court denied the application. About a month later, Garcia filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, alleging that the jail’s failure to deal properly with his porphyria constituted cruel and unusual punishment and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. The case was assigned to the same judge who denied his ex parte request. Garcia promptly filed a peremptory challenge to the judge under Code of Civil Procedure section 170.6. The Court denied the section 170.6 challenge as untimely; he reasoned that the habeas proceeding was a continuation of the criminal action. Garcia thereafter filed a petition for writ of mandate to require the judge to grant his section 170.6 challenge. The Court of Appeal determined the trial judge correctly found the habeas proceeding was a continuation of the criminal action. Hence, the court correctly rejected the section 170.6 challenge as untimely.
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