Woods
Woods v. Superior Court
Opinion
Opinion
Klein, J.
Introduction
Petitioner Albert Woods, Jr. (Woods), an indigent charged with the crime of cruelty to a child by endangering health, a misdemeanor (Pen. Code, § 273a, subd. (2)), seeks a free transcript of a prior civil proceeding.
The events giving rise to the civil proceeding were the same as the events alleged in the criminal complaint, and the alleged victim in the criminal case was also one of the complaining witnesses in the civil proceeding.
The municipal court denied Woods’s motion for a transcript of the civil proceeding, and Woods’s petition to the superior court for a writ of mandate was summarily denied. Upon petition to this court, an alternative writ of mandate was issued.
Petition granted.
Factual and Procedural Background
In a complaint filed January 24, 1989, Woods was charged with one count of violation of Penal Code section 273a, subdivision (2) on or about January 17, 1989. The alleged victim is Woods’s 16-year-old daughter.
On January 26, 1989, Carolyn West (West) filed an action against Woods under the Domestic Violence Prevention Act (Code Civ. Proc., § 540 et seq.) in the Superior Court of Los Angeles County (Case No. SCD 17553) and an order…