6DCA Oral Argument - 2026/06/02 Morning Session - Jun 02, 2026

argument

6DCA Oral Argument - 2026/06/02 Morning Session

California Sixth District Court of Appeal 1h 51m 1 speaker 8 chapters transcribed 9 days ago official recording ↗
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What is the purpose of the morning oral argument session and how is it organized?

Unknown 1:47
Thank you. Please be seated and welcome to the 6th District Court of Appeal for Oral Argument this morning. There are three cases on calendar that we will be hearing. There will be a panel change after the second case. And because everybody is appearing in person this morning, I'm not going to make my usual announcements about remote appearances, so you're spared that. But I will tell you in terms of technology that the justices have access to our laptops here on the bench. So if you see us looking over, we have the briefs, the record, our own notes and so forth. So you might see us referring to those. If you give us just a moment to get situated, we'll call the first case.
Unknown 2:42
Matter number one is H052588, the people plaintiff and respondent versus Trung Quoc Lu, defendant and appellant. If I could have appellant's counsel come to the podium, state your appearance and confirm your time estimate, and then I'll do the same for respondent's counsel.
Peggy Headley 3:01
Peggy Headley for appellant, 10 minutes and then five minutes. All right. Thank you
Unknown 3:06
very much, Ms. Headley, and appearing for the Attorney General this morning.
Andrew Haney 3:12
Good morning, Your Honors. Deputy Attorney General Andrew Haney on behalf of the people. Ten minutes, if that.
Unknown 3:17
All right. Thank you very much. Ms. Headley, I'll let you come to the podium and be situated. And I know that you folks are aware that everything is being live-streamed, essentially, and then archived on our website, which is why we have you speak from the podium. I think I'm going to have you just pull that mic a little closer to you. We'll see if that helps. How's that? Better? Maybe up? Yeah, maybe up a little bit. Maybe up. Sound check. Hello? Yeah, that's a little bit better. Better. Okay, thank you. And then we'll do the same for you. All right, you may proceed.
Peggy Headley 3:56
Good morning. May it please the court. We appreciate the opportunity to discuss 3472. It's an interesting instruction that and a consequential one. When applicable, 3472, known as contrived self-defense, wholly eliminates the right to self-defense in a criminal case. We also have an interesting case. The victim, Luong, did not testify. As a result, the evidence consists almost entirely of appellant's lengthy statement to the police, his statements when he called 911, and his statements on the body camera. What do appellant's statements show? They show a vulnerable unhoused person who tried to reason with a bully. They show a pattern of harassment and violence. on the part of Luong. Luong beat up Ron, appellant's best friend, the night before the shooting.
Peggy Headley 5:16
He snuck into appellant's tent and stole things. He vandalized appellant's car. He would not get appellant's dog out of the pound. And he pocket-checked Jerry, appellant's friend. 3472 should not have been given. It was not supported by substantial evidence. So why was it given? It's almost as if the trial court looked only at the conduct and ignored appellant statements explaining that conduct. But that would be improper.
Unknown 5:55
If I can just interrupt here, Ms. Headley, for a moment. First of all, I think we're in agreement that the standard that we're to apply here is de novo review.
Peggy Headley 6:04
Is
Unknown 6:04
that correct? Yes. So, you know, the issue really before us is whether the instruction should have been given to the jury and whether there was sufficient evidence to support it. And you're in agreement with that as well, right? Yes. Absolutely. So why isn't it enough for the court to simply rely on the conduct? I mean, that is... the evidence that the district attorney would want to argue. Why is the court under an obligation to
Peggy Headley 6:33
look at the totality of the evidence? Because when deciding whether sufficient evidence supports an instruction, the trial court can't assess witness credibility. The trial court has to consider all of the evidence and then decide if 3472 was supported. So let's look at a few of appellant's statements. And that's for the trial court not being permitted to decide credibility. That's people v. Tufunga, 21 Cal 4th, 935, 944. But let's look at a few of appellant's statements. He was always in fear of Luong.

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