People v. Superior Court (Day)

The People seek a writ of mandate to compel the superior court to reinstate a murder charge dismissed under authority of Jones v. Superior Court (1971) 4 Cal.3d 660 [ 94 Cal.Rptr. 289 , 483 P.2d 1241 ]. We agree with the People that the murder charge was improperly dismissed.

Real party Barbara Jane Day shot and killed her estranged husband Dennis at the culmination of a domestic quarrel. The magistrate held Day to answer for voluntary manslaughter, but declined to hold her to answer on the companion charge of murder. The People refiled the murder charge in the information, and Day moved to dismiss the allegation under Penal Code section 995. Day argued the magistrate made factual findings fatal to the murder charge, precluding its refiling in superior court under the rule laid down by the Jones decision. The superior court agreed and dismissed the charge, in effect forcing the People to proceed only on a charge of voluntary manslaughter. The People challenged the dismissal by this petition for writ of mandate. We stayed real party’s manslaughter trial, issued the alternative writ, and heard oral argument. For the reasons set forth below, we grant the peremptory…