Espinoza

I. BACKGROUND/PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

On March 28, 2011, McCarrick was charged with the malice aforethought murder of her three-year old daughters, L.B. and T.B. The information also charged McCarrick with two counts of assault on a child causing death. McCarrick entered a not-guilty plea and subsequently added a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. On direct appeal of her conviction, the California Court of Appeals recounted the following facts underlying the charges against McCarrick and the evidence presented at trial during the guilt phase and the sanity phase:

Michael Pallares is substituted for Janelle Espinoza as Acting Warden, Central California Women’s Facility. FED. R. CIV. P. 25(d). A. Guilt Phase 1. The Crimes and Crime Scene On the evening of October 12, 2010, [McCarrick] killed her three-year-old twin daughters, Lily and Tori Ball, with a sword. A downstairs neighbor heard loud thumping from [McCarrick’s] apartment. An hour or two later, a fire alarm went off, and the neighbor saw smoke coming from one of the windows. He ran upstairs and kicked in the front door, but it was blocked, and he was unable to enter. He succeeded in breaking a sliding glass…