The Supreme Court today affirms a man and woman’s death sentences in People v. Daveggio and Michaud for a 1997 kidnapping, rape, and murder. The court’s unanimous opinion by Justice Leondra Kruger addresses numerous arguments, as is typical of death penalty automatic appeals where — unlike other cases — the court has no discretion to decline to hear the case or to limit the issues before it.
One argument — that the defendants should have been tried separately — stands out because it was raised by an amicus curiae, the California Appellate Project. That is procedurally unusual, as the court explained: “As a general rule, this court does not permit amici curiae to enlarge the issues on appeal. In this case, however, Daveggio did not object to the new argument and Michaud expressly adopted it, so we will address it.”
