The California Supreme Court has ruled that out-of-court statements or "testimonial" hearsay is admissible against a defendant when the victim's unavailability is caused by the defendant's own criminal violence. Convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend Brenda Avie, Dwayne Giles unsuccessfully objected to the introduction of statements given to the police made by his victim several weeks prior to her death and made this the basis for his appeal. According an article in the Metropolitan News-Enterprise by Tina Bay, the court decided that hearsay, usually barred, is admissible under the Crawford v. Washington exception "forfeiture by wrongdoing." The reasoning the court applied was that Giles should not be allowed to benefit from his criminal actions and he forfeited his right to cross-examine Avie under the Confrontation Clause because he was in fact the individual responsible for her unavailability.

Implied Malice Prosecutors are asking the California Supreme Court to interpret the definition of implied malice of second degree murder and to set clear guidelines for the standard as reported here in an AP story by Kim Curtis. This is an issue that came out of the second degree murder conviction of Marjorie Knoller which was immediately reduced to manslaughter by Superior Court Judge James Warren. Knoller's dogs fatally mauled Diana Whipple in 2001 and the high court is being asked to clarify the confusion of the standards between the appeals court, which seems to be too low, and the original court, which seems to be too high.

The Death Penalty for repeat child sex offenders in Texas passed the House according to an AP story by Jim Vertuno. The bill proposes to increase the sentence for first time offenses to 25 to 99 years, life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty as an option for hard-core, second time offenses, and elimination of the statute of limitations for many sex crimes against children. Texas is one of six states who have adopted similar laws in an effort to provide harsher punishment for those who repeatedly prey upon young children.