Ebberts

This is an appeal by plaintiff (Ebberts) from the judgment (order) of the superior court denying his petition for a writ of mandate. Ebberts had sought to compel the defendant Board of Control of the State of California (board) to act affirmatively under Penal Code sections 4900 to 4904, inclusive, providing for the payment of monetary indemnity by the state to persons erroneously convicted of a crime. The board, after hearing Ebberts’ claim, denied it.

Ebberts was found guilty of seven counts of second degree burglary and one count of first degree burglary in the Modoc County Superior Court. He had pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity. The trial was bifurcated and there was evidence at both the guilt phase and at the sanity phase on the issue of Ebberts’ mental condition. The jury found him guilty at the first phase and at the second phase found he was sane at the time the crimes were committed, Ebberts was sentenced to state prison.

Ebberts appealed to this court and we reversed his conviction on the ground of prosecutorial misconduct in the closing argument to the jury at the sanity phase of the trial. The cause was remanded for a new trial only…