California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Saldana, F076842 (Cal. App. 2020):
Joinder of the offenses with which appellant was charged in all three cases was statutorily permissible, because all were of the same class, connected together in their commission, or both. (See People v. Landry, supra, 2 Cal.5th at pp. 76-77.)
Appellant does not appear to dispute murder, attempted murder, and home invasion robbery belong to the same class of crimes as they "share common characteristics as assaultive crimes against the person. [Citations.]" (People v. Lucky (1988) 45 Cal.3d 259, 276.) Furthermore, all three crimes involved a " ' "common element of substantial importance" ' " in that all three were committed for the benefit of a criminal street gang. (Ibid.) In addition, the law favors the joinder of counts because it promotes efficiency. (People v. Merriman (2014) 60 Cal.4th 1, 37.)
The above passage should not be considered legal advice. Reliable answers to complex legal questions require comprehensive research memos. To learn more visit www.alexi.com.