Love California, Hate California

The other day, I was reading an article in the Daily Journal about a case called People v. Perez (2016 DJDAR 349; Jan 13, 2016).  Seems Mr. Perez was being questioned about a robbery and subsequent murder of the victim by his accomplice.  Seems during the course of the questioning, the police told Mr. Perez that if he would "tell the truth" and be "honest" with them, that he would not be prosecuted for either the robbery or the murder.  Turns out, the police were not all that honest with Mr. Perez and he was later charged with both the robbery and the murder.  No wonder, then, that the California Court of Appeal deemed Mr. Perez's confession involuntary and reversed the conviction.  Silly rabbit (i.e. police) - tricks are for kids...

So I'm sitting here pondering this decision and not long after I read a post about the case against Bill Cosby.  Seems Mr. Cosby made certain admissions about past indiscretions after the prosecution said he would not be prosecuted as long as he did not invoke the 5th Amendment.  Turns out, the court didn't care what the interrogators "promised" and the case against Cosby is moving forward. 

Of course, all of this is taking place in a state OTHER than California (i.e. Pennsylvania).  What that means is that if you're going to implicate yourself in a crime, make sure you do it in California where criminals are king and non-prosecution promises are concrete.  Love us or hate us, California just got a bit rosier for the criminal at heart.