6DCA Oral Argument - 2026/05/05 - May 05, 2026
argument6DCA Oral Argument - 2026/05/05
California Sixth District Court of Appeal
2h 5m
3 chapters
transcribed 9 days ago
official recording ↗
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What announcements and procedural rules does the court set at the start of the oral arguments?
Good
morning. Please be seated. Welcome to the Sixth District Court of Appeal for Oral Argument today. We have four matters on calendar. And there will be both council or parties present here in the courtroom and also appearing remotely. So I'm going to make just a couple of announcements related to the technology in the courtroom. Where there is a remote appearance, if you are a council or a party who is present here in court, there's a device so that you will be able to see and hear everything that the person appearing remotely hears. says if you are in the audience you will not be able to see you will be able to hear if you want both the visual and the audio experience you can step into the waiting room where we have both and we now in addition you might notice for those who are frequent frequently here at the Court of Appeal that we have closed captioning which is a new addition that has been added I believe this week as a matter of fact so
In addition, the justices have the benefit of our computers here, our laptops up here at the bench where we have the briefs, the record, our own notes, and so forth. So we want you to be aware of that in case you do see us looking off to the right. That's where we keep everything. All right, so we will call the first case on calendar. as soon as I get myself situated. Give me just a moment here.
H053224, the people versus Arthur Molina. appearing for appellant remotely today.
Susanna McNamara is appearing for appellant.
Thank you. And Ms. McNamara, I understand that you would like 10 minutes to open and five for rebuttal.
Correct. Thank you.
All right. Thank you very much. And appearing for the Attorney General's office today. I'm going to have you go to the podium because we record everything. Thank you.
No problem.
Good morning, Deputy Attorney General Kristen Somerville for Respondent. All right. And your time estimate, Ms. Somerville? Five minutes. Thank you very much. All right. Returning back to Ms. McNamara, we are interested to hear your comments this morning. Thank you, ma'am.
You go ahead. Thank you. Good morning, Your Honors, and may it please the Court. As the court is aware, the issue before the court today is whether Section 290 and 290.5 of the Penal Code violate the Equal Protection Clause of the United States and California Constitution. The only real issue before this court today is whether there is a rational basis for that disparity in treatment. The definitive answer that I will give is that no, there's not a rational basis for that. The only way to justify tier three lifetime registration for those convicted of section 288 subdivision C1 would be if it is true that a person who commits a lewd act on a 14 or 15 year old is at greater risk of reoffending than those convicted of 288 subdivision A who commit a lewd act on a child from infancy
to age 13, absent some evidence of that placement in tier three for violators of subdivision C1 makes no sense. The bulk of the argument made by respondent and also some of it by the court in Lake versus Department of Justice to justify this differential treatment relies on the rationale that a small subset of those who commit a violation of Section 288 of A are young, are young offenders, and that the legislature may have placed those violating this section in Tier 2 because youthful adult offenders who commit lewd acts are maybe less likely to reoffend, particularly if their victims are at the oldest in the possible age of victims, and that is 13. The the respondent basically says that the legislature also may have wanted to remediate perceived draconians effect of mandatory lifetime registration on young non predatory offenders.
Now both of those arguments are a justification for placing. Those who violate 288 subdivision A in Tier 2. Mr. Molina does not disagree with that assessment. Mr. Molina is not arguing that those who violate subdivision A should not be placed in Tier 2. His position is that those who violate subdivision C1 should also be placed in Tier 2. So those arguments may be perfectly rational, but they are not reasons to place
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Chapters
3 chapters
1
What announcements and procedural rules does the court set at the start of the oral arguments?
4:45–50:47
2
What constitutional issue does appellant Arthur Molina raise regarding Penal Code sections 290 and 290.5?
50:47–1:40:51
3
How does the court address the rational‑basis challenge to the tier‑3 classification for Section 288 C‑1 offenses?
1:40:51–2:05:00
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