Griffin

—The People appeal from the pretrial dismissal of this case, in which Robert Lee Griffin was charged with the 1980 murder of one of his fellow prison inmates at Chino’s California Institution for Men.

Griffin was first tried and convicted for the killing several years ago, but this court reversed his first degree murder conviction due to jury instruction error. He was tried a second time and convicted as before, and we once again reversed his conviction, this time for improper admission of evidence at trial. We noted in our opinion as to this trial that “. . . [T]he majority of witnesses testifying . . . were fellow inmates of Griffin and the victim[, including the now infamous Leslie Vernon White, one of the chief prosecution witnesses. ] The air at trial was thick with accusations and insinuations of lack of credibility, favors in exchange for testimony, and gang affiliations.” After our reversal of the second verdict, proceedings were begun a third time, but were terminated by the trial court’s dismissal order. The People here contend that that order was improper. We agree and reverse.

Facts

When Griffin was first tried, he was charged with the enhancement that he…