CONFIDENTIAL ATTORNEY-CLIENT COMMUNICATION

:

I regret to advise you that the Court of Appeal has affirmed your conviction and sentence. The court considered the arguments raised on your behalf in the briefs, but unfortunately the Court did not agree with them. Enclosed is a copy of the court's opinion for you to keep.

At this point I do not feel any further action would be successful, since I think there is no reasonable likelihood that the Court of Appeal would reconsider its decision, or that the California Supreme Court would agree to review your case. However, I wish to inform you of your options.

The second option you have is to file a Petition for Review in the California Supreme Court. It must be filed within ten (10) days after the decision of the Court of Appeal becomes final (30 days after it was filed). The California Supreme Court rarely decides to review a case. There are only a few reasons why the Supreme Court will grant review of a case: (a) the questions of law are of statewide importance, or there are conflicting decisions of the Courts of Appeal on the issue; (b) the Court of Appeal had no jurisdiction to decide your case, or the Court of Appeal decision did not have a proper majority of judges who decided the case.

Please note: if you feel there is a federal issue that you have raised in your case that you want to raise in federal court by a petition for habeas corpus, you must file a Petition for Review in the California Supreme Court first. If you do not ask the California Supreme Court to review the issue first, the federal court will refuse to hear it. You must raise every possible federal issue in the Petition for Review, or the federal court will not consider it. Furthermore, if you intend to file a federal habeas corpus petition, you must do so within one year from the date your appeal is final.

To file a Petition for Review, you should send it to the California Supreme Court at 350 McAllister Street, San Francisco, CA 94102-3600. Put the case name and number of your case on the Petition. Your Petition should contain a brief summary of your case and the issue you want the Court to review. You must then state why the Supreme Court should hear your case (i.e., why the issue is of statewide importance, etc.), and you should attach a copy of the Court of Appeal opinion to the Petition. If you can afford to make copies of the Petition, send the original Petition plus 14 copies to the Supreme Court, a copy to the Attorney General, a copy to the Court of Appeal, and a copy to the superior court which tried your case. Attach a page called Proof of Service, to show that you have sent these copies. If you cannot afford to make copies, send the original Petition to the Supreme Court, and include a letter stating that you do not have funds to make copies of the Petition.

Again, I am very sorry that the Court of Appeal affirmed your conviction. I did everything I could to raise issues presented by the record in your case, and I sincerely regret that the Court of Appeal did not agree with the arguments that were made. If I believed there was any legal basis for filing either a Petition for Rehearing or Petition for Review, I would do so. Unfortunately, I see no legal basis in your case. As explained above, however, you have the right to file your own Petitions.

I am sending your transcripts back to you for you to keep. If you have any questions, please write me a letter.