Williams v. Superior Court of San Joaquin Cnty.

*1053 Petitioner Darren Williams seeks extraordinary writ relief from the superior court's order denying his Penal Code section 995 1 motion to dismiss an indictment issued by a grand jury charging him with a series of cell phone store robberies. Petitioner moved to dismiss the indictment on the basis that the deputy district attorney's excusal of a juror for hardship violated the grand jury's independence and rendered it improperly constituted. The California Supreme Court is currently considering the related question of whether a prosecutor's improper dismissal of a grand juror denied a defendant a "substantial right" in Avitia v. Superior Court (Apr. 18, 2017, C082859) [nonpub. opn.], review granted June 21, 2017, S242030. 2 Pending further guidance from the Supreme Court, we resolve the matter before us. Petitioner also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence with respect to the gang allegations and counts regarding a March 10, 2014, robbery. We need not reach these sufficiency of the evidence claims because we conclude the superior court should have granted the motion to dismiss the indictment. The deputy district attorney's exercise of authority he did not have over the…