Holmes

California allows a person erroneously convicted of a crime to file a claim for indemnity with the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board (the Board) for pecuniary injury sustained through the erroneous conviction and imprisonment or incarceration. (Pen. Code, § 4900 et seq.; undesignated statutory references are to this code.) In this case, we address whether the claimant met his burden of showing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he sustained pecuniary injury as a result of his wrongful conviction. The Board found the claimant had not sustained pecuniary injury. The trial court subsequently denied claimant’s petition for a writ of mandate, finding claimant had not satisfied his burden of proof. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In 1992, in the state of Rhode Island, Charles Herbert Holmes III was convicted of second degree child molestation. (Holmes passed away during the pendency of this appeal and his daughter, Jesica Sandra Holmes, was substituted as the petitioner. All references to Holmes in this opinion are to Mr. Holmes, the original claimant.) Based on the Rhode Island conviction, Holmes began registering as a sex…