Title PEN, California Penal Code

(a) The court shall notify the Department of Justice when a gun violence restraining order has been issued or renewed under this division no later than one court day after issuing or renewing the order. (b) The court shall notify the Department of Justice when a gun violence rest…

(a) A person subject to a gun violence restraining order issued pursuant to this division shall not have in the person’s custody or control, own, purchase, possess, or receive any firearms or ammunition while that order is in effect. (b) (1) Upon issuance of a gun violence restra…

(a) When relevant information is presented to the court at any noticed hearing that a restrained person has a firearm, the court shall consider that information to determine, by a preponderance of the evidence, whether the person subject to an order defined in Section 136.2 or Di…

There is no filing fee for an application, a responsive pleading, or an order to show cause that seeks to obtain, modify, or enforce a gun violence restraining order or other order authorized by this division if the request for the other order is necessary to obtain or give effec…

(a) (1) A court or court facility that receives petitions for any restraining order under this division or temporary gun violence restraining orders consistent with Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 18125) shall permit those petitions to be submitted electronically. The court or…

A party or witness may appear remotely at the hearing on a petition for a gun violence restraining order. The superior court of each county shall develop local rules and instructions for remote appearances permitted under this section, which shall be posted on its internet websit…

(a) If any of the following persons is at the scene of a domestic violence incident involving a threat to human life or a physical assault, is serving a protective order as defined in Section 6218 of the Family Code, or is serving a gun violence restraining order issued pursuant …

(a) Upon taking custody of a firearm or other deadly weapon pursuant to this division, the officer shall give the owner or person who possessed the firearm or other deadly weapon a receipt. (b) The receipt shall describe the firearm or other deadly weapon and list any identificat…

Any peace officer, as defined in subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 830.32, who takes custody of a firearm or other deadly weapon pursuant to this division, shall deliver the firearm or other deadly weapon within 24 hours to the city police department or county sheriff’s office …

(a) No firearm or other deadly weapon taken into custody pursuant to this division shall be held less than 48 hours. (b) Except as provided in Section 18400, if a firearm or other deadly weapon is not retained for use as evidence related to criminal charges brought as a result of…

If a firearm or other deadly weapon has been stolen and has been taken into custody pursuant to this division, it shall be restored to the lawful owner upon satisfaction of all of the following conditions: (a) Its use for evidence has been served. (b) The owner identifies the fir…

(a) Any firearm or other deadly weapon that has been taken into custody and held by any of the following law enforcement authorities for longer than 12 months, and has not been recovered by the owner or person who had lawful possession at the time it was taken into custody, shall…

(a) Murder is the unlawful killing of a human being, or a fetus, with malice aforethought. (b) This section shall not apply to any person who commits an act that results in the death of a fetus if any of the following apply: (1) The act complied with the former Therapeutic Aborti…

(a) For purposes of Section 187, malice may be express or implied. (1) Malice is express when there is manifested a deliberate intention to unlawfully take away the life of a fellow creature. (2) Malice is implied when no considerable provocation appears, or when the circumstance…

(a) All murder that is perpetrated by means of a destructive device or explosive, a weapon of mass destruction, knowing use of ammunition designed primarily to penetrate metal or armor, poison, lying in wait, torture, or by any other kind of willful, deliberate, and premeditated …

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that all unlawful killings that are willful, deliberate, and premeditated and in which the victim was a peace officer, as defined in Section 830, who was killed while engaged in the performance of his or her duties, where the defendant knew,…

(a) Upon a trial for murder, the commission of the homicide by the defendant being proved, the burden of proving circumstances of mitigation, or that justify or excuse it, devolves upon the defendant, unless the proof on the part of the prosecution tends to show that the crime co…

(a) Every person guilty of murder in the first degree shall be punished by death, imprisonment in the state prison for life without the possibility of parole, or imprisonment in the state prison for a term of 25 years to life. The penalty to be applied shall be determined as prov…

(a) A person who commits first-degree murder that is a hate crime shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life without the possibility of parole. (b) The term authorized by subdivision (a) shall not apply unless the allegation is charged in the accusatory pleadi…

(a) The penalty for a defendant found guilty of murder in the second degree, who has served a prior prison term for murder in the first or second degree, shall be confinement in the state prison for a term of life without the possibility of parole or confinement in the state pris…

A case in which the death penalty may be imposed pursuant to this chapter shall be tried in separate phases as follows: (a) The question of the defendant’s guilt shall be first determined. If the trier of fact finds the defendant guilty of first degree murder, it shall at the sam…

(a) The penalty for a defendant who is found guilty of murder in the first degree is death or imprisonment in the state prison for life without the possibility of parole if one or more of the following special circumstances has been found under Section 190.4 to be true: (1) The m…

(a) The penalty for a defendant found guilty of murder in the first degree shall be confinement in state prison for a term of life without the possibility of parole in any case in which any of the following special circumstances has been charged and specially found under Section …

If the defendant has been found guilty of murder in the first degree, and a special circumstance has been charged and found to be true, or if the defendant may be subject to the death penalty after having been found guilty of violating subdivision (a) of Section 1672 of the Milit…

(a) Whenever special circumstances as enumerated in Section 190.2 are alleged and the trier of fact finds the defendant guilty of first degree murder, the trier of fact shall also make a special finding on the truth of each alleged special circumstance. The determination of the t…

Notwithstanding Section 190.4 or any other provision of law, the corpus delicti of a felony-based special circumstance enumerated in paragraph (17) of subdivision (a) of Section 190.2 need not be proved independently of a defendant’s extrajudicial statement. (Added June 5, 1990, …

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the death penalty shall not be imposed upon any person who is under the age of 18 at the time of the commission of the crime. The burden of proof as to the age of such person shall be upon the defendant. (b) The penalty for a defend…

(a) The Legislature finds that the sentence in all capital cases should be imposed expeditiously. (b) Therefore, in all cases in which a sentence of death has been imposed on or after January 1, 1997, the opening appellate brief in the appeal to the State Supreme Court shall be f…

(a) The “entire record” referred to in Section 190.6 includes, but is not limited to, the following: (1) The normal and additional record prescribed in the rules adopted by the Judicial Council pertaining to an appeal taken by the defendant from a judgment of conviction. (2) A co…

(a) In any case in which a death sentence has been imposed, the record on appeal shall be expeditiously certified in two stages, the first for completeness and the second for accuracy, as provided by this section. The trial court may use all reasonable means to ensure compliance …

(a) (1) In any case in which a death sentence may be imposed, all proceedings conducted in the superior court, including all conferences and proceedings, whether in open court, in conference in the courtroom, or in chambers, shall be conducted on the record with a court reporter …

The rules of the common law, distinguishing the killing of a master by his servant, and of a husband by his wife, as petit treason, are abolished, and these offenses are homicides, punishable in the manner prescribed by this Chapter. (Enacted 1872.)

(a) Gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought, in the driving of a vehicle, where the driving was in violation of Section 23140, 23152, or 23153 of the Vehicle Code, and the killing was either the proximate…

Manslaughter is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice. It is of three kinds: (a) Voluntary—upon a sudden quarrel or heat of passion. (b) Involuntary—in the commission of an unlawful act, not amounting to a felony; or in the commission of a lawful act which might pr…

Vehicular manslaughter pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 191.5 and subdivision (c) of Section 192 is the unlawful killing of a human being without malice aforethought, and includes: (a) Operating a vessel in violation of subdivision (b), (c), (d), (e), or (f) of Section 655 …

(a) Voluntary manslaughter is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 3, 6, or 11 years. (b) Involuntary manslaughter is punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for two, three, or four years. (c) Vehicular manslaughter is punishable as fo…

Manslaughter committed during the operation of a vessel is punishable as follows: (a) A violation of subdivision (a) of Section 192.5 is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for 4, 6, or 10 years. (b) A violation of subdivision (b) of Section 192.5 is punishable by impr…

A person convicted of a violation of subdivision (b) of Section 191.5 that occurred within seven years of two or more separate violations of Section 23103, as specified in Section 23103.5, of, or Section 23152 or 23153 of, the Vehicle Code, or any combination thereof, that result…

(a) An adult, who is the registered owner of a motor vehicle or in possession of a motor vehicle, shall not relinquish possession of the vehicle to a minor for the purpose of driving if the following conditions exist: (1) The adult owner or person in possession of the vehicle kne…

To make the killing either murder or manslaughter, it is not requisite that the party die within three years and a day after the stroke received or the cause of death administered. If death occurs beyond the time of three years and a day, there shall be a rebuttable presumption t…

Homicide is excusable in the following cases: 1. When committed by accident and misfortune, or in doing any other lawful act by lawful means, with usual and ordinary caution, and without any unlawful intent. 2. When committed by accident and misfortune, in the heat of passion, up…

Homicide is justifiable when committed by peace officers and those acting by their command in their aid and assistance, under either of the following circumstances: (a) In obedience to any judgment of a competent court. (b) When the homicide results from a peace officer’s use of …

Homicide is also justifiable when committed by any person in any of the following cases: (1) When resisting any attempt to murder any person, or to commit a felony, or to do some great bodily injury upon any person. (2) When committed in defense of habitation, property, or person…

A bare fear of the commission of any of the offenses mentioned in subdivisions 2 and 3 of Section 197, to prevent which homicide may be lawfully committed, is not sufficient to justify it. But the circumstances must be sufficient to excite the fears of a reasonable person, and th…

Any person using force intended or likely to cause death or great bodily injury within his or her residence shall be presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily injury to self, family, or a member of the household when that force is used aga…

The homicide appearing to be justifiable or excusable, the person indicted must, upon his trial, be fully acquitted and discharged. (Enacted 1872.)