Does the Court have authority to bifurcate a felon in possession charge from a murder charge?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Woods, C081813 (Cal. App. 2017):
Based on this authority, the trial court did not have the discretion to bifurcate defendant's felon in possession charge from his murder charge. For this same reason, defense counsel was not ineffective for failing to request bifurcation of defendant's felon in possession charge. (See People v. Pierce (2015) 234 Cal.App.4th 1334, 1337 [failure to raise a meritless objection is not ineffective assistance of counsel].)
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