California v. Giddens
Annotate this CaseWhile serving as an inmate at West Valley Detention Center, defendant Chelsea Giddens threw a milk carton filled with urine at a deputy, hitting her in the face. The incident was recorded by one of the jail’s security cameras. Based on the video, the prosecution charged Giddens with one count of “gassing” a peace officer, an aggravated form of battery that occurs when an inmate intentionally causes “any mixture containing human excrement or other bodily fluids” to make contact with the officer’s “skin or membranes.” At trial, the prosecution played the security footage for the jury, and the deputy testified she was certain the “salty, warm” liquid that splashed into her eyes and mouth was urine. Giddens testified in her own defense and denied throwing anything at the deputy, but her attorney presented a different theory during closing statements, arguing the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the liquid was urine as it was just as likely Giddens had made a concoction of warm water and rotting food from her cell. The jury found Giddens guilty as charged. On appeal, she argued: (1) the jail violated Penal Code section 243.9’s mandatory duty to collect a sample of the suspected gassing substance and test it to determine whether it in fact contained a bodily fluid; (2) the failure to test the contents of the liquid also violated her due process rights to the disclosure of potentially exculpatory evidence; and (3) the trial judge erroneously denied her motion to dismiss the gassing charge for insufficient evidence. Finding no reversible error, the Court of Appeal affirmed Giddens' conviction.
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