5DCA Oral Argument - 2025/10/15 - Oct 15, 2025
argument5DCA Oral Argument - 2025/10/15
California Fifth District Court of Appeal
6h 12m
7 chapters
transcribed 1 day ago
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What does the court say when calling the case and how do the attorneys state their appearances?
Oh
Oh
Well
Well.
No.
Thank you. Do you see this? And welcome to our court. At this time, the court will call case number F zero eight seven nine zero eight. This is the people versus Max Robert Bechtel. Counsel, if you could please state your appearances for the record.
And good morning, Your Honor. Johnny Griffin on behalf of the appellate defendant, Mr. Bechtel.
Thank you.
Morning, honourable justice is John Merritt appearing on behalf of the people.
Thank you both very much. We are very familiar with the facts and circumstances of your case. Um Mr. Griffin, you've asked for thirty minutes. I don't know if you intend to use all of that. You're certainly free to do so. Would you like me to tell you when you have a certain amount of time remaining?
Um yes, Your Honor, and I would like to reserve five minutes. Okay. But an abundance of caution.
That's fine. We'll do. And you may proceed.
Thank you, man. Good morning again and may it please the court. I first want to start off by discussing Count One duress. But before I get there I need to make an apology to the court. I noted that in my reply brief that I incorrectly stated on page six that this court, many of the fifth district, does not have a public published opinion That explains the contours of duress in child molestation cases. That is not accurate. There is a case. In that case is um Uh People vs. Wilkerson, nineteen ninety two, six Calop fourth, one five, seven one. Inasmuch as that was not included in my brief, I'm not going to rely on that or argue that case, but I do want the court to know that that is that statement is not accurate, and I apologize to the court for that.
I'd like to focus on count one and the big issue is was the evidence presented in the trial court sufficient? for the finding of duress. And I'm gonna ask the court to somewhat Freeze a frame. a timeline. Because what's I think the pivotal issue here is at the time. By Mr. Bechtel. Asked. Jane Doe to come over here. At that time. At that point. not some other time, either before or after, was their duress. In the Soto case it says duress is measured by a purely objective standard. And It is the defendant's meaning menacing behavior. That aggravates the crime. So what do we know from the record? about how Mr. Bechtel asked Jane do to come to him. And I put emphasis on the word ass because that's what she testified to.
She testified that Mr. Bechtel asked her to come over to him. It's important because we I submit to the court that The words in and of themselves come over to me. Are not threatening. are not menacing. And there's no evidence in the record that he yelled, screamed. uh engage in any other type of behavior that made those words quote unquote threatening. So we know that the words in and of themselves Is not threatening. And as a matter of fact, um And Jane Doe testified that she did not think he was threatening her. And again, I'm asking the court to focus. That moment. When he asked her to come over to him. Because That's the moment that there has to be a finding of direct. Not what happened afterwards, but at that moment.
No, fairness that changed.
We have to look at the totality of the circumstances, correct? That is correct. So it's not it's more than just that moment.
That is true. Those are relevant factors, as the cases say. And um I can fast forward uh if I'm gonna get down
Okay, fair enough. No, you go ahead. I'm sorry, Jess. No,
it's okay. Okay. Um uh the the Uh, one thing I do wanna say is that Jane Doe did testify she was hesitant and felt that something was off. but went over to him because she trusted him. And that was cited in the a brief. So let me get to the point that the court um uh Justice Levy um um addressed. I cited the cases of Barton Busby And Goanther. And all of those cases found duress. because of substantial evidence of multiple instances of threatened repercussions. Controlling behavior. And some other cases that were cited talked about how there was the age, weight, size. Drinking. Meaning that uh one of the cases talked about I think it was the Must be case, um Talked about how the victim in that case knew that he became violent.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What does the court say when calling the case and how do the attorneys state their appearances?
1:59–30:42
2
How does counsel argue the duress issue for Count One and cite relevant case law?
30:42–1:16:56
3
Why does the appellant claim ineffective assistance of counsel and why were expert witnesses important?
1:16:56–1:57:40
4
Do I need to file an amended certificate of merit?
1:57:40–1:59:36
5
How does the delay in filing the amendment prejudice the parties?
1:59:36–2:09:24
6
What are the arguments about ministerial versus discretionary duties and the resulting constitutional claims?
2:09:24–5:37:29
7
What procedural steps conclude this argument and what new cases are introduced next?
5:37:29–6:11:10