DeHoyos v. Superior Court
Annotate this CaseIn 1993, Richard Lucio DeHoyos was convicted by jury of kidnapping, raping and murdering a nine year old girl, for which he was sentenced to death. In April 2018, DeHoyos petitioned the Court of Appeal for a writ of mandate after the trial court denied his motion for an order permitting his federal habeas counsel to contact jurors who had served on his trial jury. The Court summarily denied his petition, but the California Supreme Court granted review and transferred the case back to the Court of Appeal with directions to issue an alternative writ directing the trial court to either vacate its order and issue a new order granting relief with respect to three jurors DeHoyos identified as having previously discussed the case with his investigators, or to show cause before this court. In its order, the Supreme Court cited Townsel v. Superior Court, 20 Cal.4th 1084 (1999). The trial court refused to vacate its order denying the motion. Having considered the arguments made by the Attorney General in support of the court’s refusal, the Court of Appeal granted the petition and issued a writ of mandate ordering the trial court to vacate its order and to schedule a hearing to establish a reasonable procedure to facilitate contact with the three jurors to ascertain their current willingness to speak with DeHoyos’s counsel. As explained in Townsel, if any of those jurors consent to speak with counsel, the trial court may not prohibit it. If any juror declines contact, the issue with respect to that juror will be resolved.
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