People v. Superior Court (Gibson)

By this petition the People challenge a Monterey County Superior Court ruling which dismissed a kidnaping charge and removed the “special circumstance” allegations from a first degree murder prosecution against Dale Clayton Gibson. In ruling in Mr. Gibson’s favor on his Penal Code section 995 motion to dismiss the kidnaping charge and strike the special circumstances* the trial court did not evaluate the evidence independently, but found itself bound by what it characterized as “factual determinations” of the magistrate. We have concluded that it was not so bound and that the writ should issue in order to permit a redetermination of Mr. Gibson’s motion.

The purported “factual determinations” of the magistrate consisted of the following comments made at the conclusion of the preliminary hearing: “Now, as far as Mr. Gibson is concerned, the only evidence we have on Mr. Gibson is the fact that there is a body out there, that it’s his wife, and she’s been shot, apparently, with a high velocity projectile and that it went through her skull and killed her. From that point on, all we have is oral admissions of the defendant and, of course, they are to be viewed very carefully.…