Monday, September 14, 2020

People v. Henderson (Cal. Ct. App. - Sept. 14, 2020)

It's struck me as strange as I was reading it that this opinion referred to the defendant by his last name (Henderson) and the key male witness the same way (Aguilar), yet referred to the key female witness by only her first name (Tiffany).

It may perhaps be that the panel doesn't know Tiffany's last name.  But she submitted a declaration in the case, and was also interviewed by an investigator (and we have the transcript), so I presume her last name is known to the parties.  Plus, the opinion's all about whether defense counsel should have called her as a witness; a pretty central player.

I can't find the briefs online right now, so for now, she's simply a last-nameless "Tiffany."  Someone who witnessed the defendant beating someone else up and screamed "Please do not kill my baby’s daddy” but was not called as a witness at trial.