People v. Cervantes
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After defendant was convicted of two first degree murders, the jury found true a multiple murder special circumstance and found that defendant personally and intentionally discharged a firearm causing great bodily injury or death, and personally and intentionally discharged a firearm during the commission of a violation of Penal Code section 187, subdivision (a).
Penal Code section 859.5, which requires the electronic recording of certain custodial statements, was amended after defendant confessed to the shootings. In the published portion of this opinion, the Court of Appeal concluded that the 2017 amendments to section 859.5 -- which until then applied to custodial interrogations of minors, was amended so it applied as well to custodial interrogations of adults -- do not apply retroactively to bar admission of defendant's confession. Under the strong presumption of prospective application set out in section 3, and in the absence of any indication the Legislature intended the amendments to apply retroactively, the court construed the 2017 amendments to section 859.5 to apply only prospectively.
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