About the Authors
CHARLES M. BONNEAU, JR., B.A., 1969, University of California, Berkeley; J.D., 1973, University of California, Davis, School of Law. Mr. Bonneau is in private practice in Sacramento. He co-authored the Supplement to Appeals and Writs in Criminal Cases (CEB) from 1988 to 1998. He is a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers and California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. He has been a guest speaker for California Appellate Defense Counsel and the Federal Defender Training Program in Habeas Corpus. Mr. Bonneau has argued a number of cases in the California Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit. He has defended four death penalty cases at trial and five in postconviction proceedings. He obtained the reversal of a death penalty conviction on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel in In re Jones (1996) 13 C4th 552.
ADRIAN G. DRISCOLL, B.S., 1977, University of California, Davis; J.D., 1980, University of San Francisco School of Law. Mr. Driscoll is a senior counsel at Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney, with a practice that includes appeals and writs. He also teaches as an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law.
CLIFFORD GARDNER, B.A., 1977, State University of New York at Binghamton; J.D., 1980, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. In private practice in Oakland, Mr. Gardner specializes in postconviction proceedings in state and federal courts. He has argued cases at all levels of the state and federal systems, including several cases in the United States Supreme Court and more than a dozen cases in the California Supreme Court. He is a frequent lecturer on state and federal habeas corpus practice and has served on both the state Judicial Council’s Appellate Advisory Committee (1998–2004) and the Northern District Habeas Corpus Local Rules Advisory Subcommittee. In 2006, Mr. Gardner received the Paul E. Bell Memorial Award, given to honor excellence in representing the indigent.
STEPHEN GREENBERG, B.A., 1974, University of California, Santa Cruz; J.D., 1979, New College of California. Mr. Greenberg has been practicing appellate law since 1988. He is a panel attorney with the First District Appellate Project and Central California Appellate Program. Mr. Greenberg has been published in Forecite, CACJ Forum, CADC’s Cal App News, and (with former Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso) the Daily Journal. He is also a founder of CalAppErrors.com.
JONATHAN GROSSMAN, B.A., 1988, University of California, Berkeley; J.D., 1991, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. Mr. Grossman was a Deputy Public Defender in San Joaquin County and is currently a staff attorney with the Sixth District Appellate Program.
AMY HADDIX, B.A., 1993, University of California, Berkeley; J.D., 1996, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Ms. Haddix was a Deputy Attorney General in San Francisco from 1996 to 2012, specializing in criminal writs and appeals. She is currently a chamber attorney with the California Supreme Court.
SUSAN HORST, B.A., 1969, Stanford University; J.D., 1976, University of Santa Clara School of Law. Ms. Horst served as a writ attorney at the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District in San Francisco for over 31 years. She is currently in private practice in San Francisco. She is a former Assistant District Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco, and is a frequent lecturer on writ practice.
NEOMA D. KENWOOD, B.A., 1978, Indiana University; J.D., 1981, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. Ms. Kenwood is senior staff attorney at the California Appellate Project (San Francisco) and has been in private practice in Berkeley since 1993. She is a former staff attorney with the Office of the State Public Defender and the First District Appellate Project. Ms. Kenwood’s capital case experience includes handling the automatic appeal in state court, and related habeas corpus proceedings in both state and federal court.
A.J. KUTCHINS, B.A., 1978, Antioch University; J.D., 1981, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. After 2 years as a law clerk for the Hon. Lawrence K. Karlton, (then) Chief Judge of the East District of California, and a few years in a small law firm, in 1986 Mr. Kutchins established his solo practice devoted primarily to appeals and writs in criminal cases. His emphasis over the last decade or so has been on federal habeas practice in the district courts and the Ninth Circuit. He was one of the first group of attorneys selected to serve as Appellate Lawyer Representatives to the Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, and was one of several authors and editors of “The Appellate Lawyer Representatives’ Guide to Practice in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit” (available on the Ninth Circuit website). Mr. Kutchins has served as an update author to chapter 42, Felony Appeals, in CEB’s California Criminal Law Procedure and Practice (Cal CEB), and has authored numerous articles and award-winning training films on subjects related to the law, ethics, and civil rights.
JAMES A. LASSART, B.A., 1964, University of Santa Clara; J.D., 1967, University of San Francisco Law School. Mr. Lassart is a partner at Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney, with a practice that includes criminal defense. He is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and Coordinator of the Northwest Region of the President’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, and served for 12 years as an Assistant District Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco.
THERENE POWELL, B.A., 1969, University of California, Berkeley; J.D., 1974, University of Southern California. Ms. Powell was an attorney with the Office of the State Public Defender from 1976–2005, and since 1993 has worked exclusively on automatic appeals and related habeas corpus proceedings in state court. She is currently in private practice in Sunnyvale.
MORGAN PRICKETT, B.A., 1976, University of Southern California; M.A., 1977, political science, University of Southern California; J.D., 1980, University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. Mr. Prickett is a Senior Judicial Staff Attorney at the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco. He is the author of Writ of Error Coram Nobis in California, 30 Santa Clara Law Review 1 (1990).
LYNDA A. ROMERO, B.A, 1976, University of California, Irvine; J.D., 1979, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. Ms. Romero is a sole practitioner in San Diego, who limits her practice to criminal appeals and postconviction work. Ms. Romero was a member of the State Bar Committee of the Appellate Courts from 1985–1989 and chaired the committee in 1988–1989. In 1998, Ms. Romero received a Clay Award (California Attorneys of the Year) from California Lawyer magazine. Also in 1998, Ms. Romero was named outstanding appellate lawyer of the year by the San Diego Criminal Defense Bar Association.
MICHAEL SATRIS, B.A., 1971, University of California, Berkeley; J.D. 1975, University of California, Davis, School of Law. In 1976, Mr. Satris co-founded the Prison Law Office, a nonprofit corporation adjacent to San Quentin Prison that provides legal services for California prisoners, and directed its operations until 1984. At that time, he established a private practice emphasizing postconviction remedies, which is now located in Bolinas. Mr. Satris passed away in 2020.
GEORGE SCHRAER, B.A., 1968, University of California, Berkeley; J.D., 1971, University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. Mr. Schraer, a sole practitioner in San Diego, has been a criminal appellate attorney for more than 30 years, including 5 years as a staff and supervising attorney in the California State Public Defender Office. Mr. Schraer has been counsel of record in more than 500 appeals, including 12 in the California Supreme Court, and has authored or co-authored amicus curiae briefs in three cases in the United States Supreme Court and 10 cases in the California Supreme Court. He is the 2002 recipient of the Paul Bell Memorial Award “for consistent professional excellence and unselfish commitment to the cause of indigent representation on appeal,” and can still consistently hit a 20-foot jump shot.
DAVID Y. STANLEY, B.A., 1967, Willamette University; J.D., 1975, University of Michigan Law School. Mr. Stanley is in private practice in Klamath Falls, Oregon, specializing in criminal appeals and writs. A former executive director of the First District Appellate Project in San Francisco, Mr. Stanley has been both a prosecutor and a defense attorney and has practiced at the trial level and at the appellate level. From 1995 to 1998, Mr. Stanley was an adjunct professor at the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, where he taught appellate advocacy, legal writing and research, and moot court.
CAROLYN WIGGIN, B.A., 1990, University of California, Berkeley; J.D., 1994, Yale University School of Law. Ms. Wiggin is an Assistant Federal Defender in the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Sacramento, where she handles appeals and represents state prisoners in federal habeas corpus proceedings.
About the 2023 Update Authors
JONATHAN AMINOFF (chapters 12 and 14) received his B.A. in 2004 from the University of California, Berkeley, and his J.D. in 2008 from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Since 2009, Mr. Aminoff has served as a Deputy Federal Public Defender at the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Los Angeles.
CELESTE BACCHI (chapter 6) received her B.A. in 1997 from San Francisco State University and her J.D. in 2002 from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. Ms. Bacchi is a Deputy Federal Public Defender in the Capital Habeas Unit of the Federal Public Defender in Los Angeles. She has represented clients in capital and non-capital habeas cases at the state and federal level since 2003. Ms. Bacchi has also worked as a consultant on postconviction issues for attorneys, universities, and documentary filmmakers, and regularly trains on habeas-related matters at workshops and conferences around the country.
BRIDGET BILLETER (chapter 1) received her B.A. in 1993 from the University of California, San Diego, and her J.D. in 1996 from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. Ms. Billeter is a Deputy Attorney General with the California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, since 1999. She handles felony appeals and writs in both state and federal court. She has been the People’s Appeals Coordinator for the San Francisco office since 2012 and handles all international cases involving the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. She has presented numerous times to both domestic and international audiences about the implementation of the Hague Treaty provisions in California.
CHARLES M. BONNEAU, JR. (chapter 3) received his B.A. in 1969 from the University of California, Berkeley, and his J.D. in 1973 from the University of California, Davis, School of Law. Mr. Bonneau is in private practice in Sacramento. He co-authored the Supplement to Appeals and Writs in Criminal Cases (CEB) from 1988 to 1998. He is a member of the California Academy of Appellate Lawyers and California Attorneys for Criminal Justice. He has been a guest speaker for California Appellate Defense Counsel and the Federal Defender Training Program in Habeas Corpus. Mr. Bonneau has argued a number of cases in the California Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit. He has defended four death penalty cases at trial and five in postconviction proceedings. He obtained the reversal of a death penalty conviction on grounds of ineffective assistance of counsel in In re Jones (1996) 13 C4th 552.
ADRIAN G. DRISCOLL (chapter 8) received his B.S. in 1977 from the University of California, Davis, and his J.D. in 1980 from the University of San Francisco School of Law. Mr. Driscoll is a senior counsel at Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney, with a practice that includes appeals and writs. He also teaches as an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco School of Law.
STEPHEN GREENBERG (chapter 2) received his B.A. in 1974 from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his J.D. in 1979 from the New College of California. Mr. Greenberg has been practicing appellate law since 1988. He is a panel attorney with the First District Appellate Project and Central California Appellate Program. Mr. Greenberg has been published in Forecite, CACJ Forum, CADC’s Cal App News, and (with former Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso) the Daily Journal. He is also a founder of CalAppErrors.com.
JONATHAN GROSSMAN (chapter 13) received his B.A. in 1988 from the University of California, Berkeley, and his J.D. in 1991 from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. Mr. Grossman was a Deputy Public Defender in San Joaquin County and is a staff attorney with the Sixth District Appellate Program.
KURT D. HERMANSEN (chapter 9) received his B.A, in 1988 from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his J.D. in 1993 from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles. Mr. Hermansen is a Criminal Law Specialist certified by the California State Bar Board of Legal Specialization. He serves as a Supervising Assistant Federal Public Defender and Eugene Branch Chief Counsel for the Federal Public Defender for the District of Oregon. He served on the Criminal Law Executive Committee of the California Lawyers Association. Mr. Hermansen served on and chaired the Criminal Law Advisory Commission to the California State Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization (2011–2015) and served on and chaired the California State Bar’s Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Discrimination (1996–2000). He is the 2017 recipient of the San Diego Criminal Defense Bar Association’s Appellate Attorney of the Year Award. He is also the 2016 recipient of the E. Stanley Conant Award for exceptional and unselfish devotion to protecting the rights of the indigent accused, presented by the Board of Directors of Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc., and Appellate Defenders, Inc.
SUSAN HORST (chapter 7) received her B.A. in 1969 from Stanford University and her J.D. in 1976 from the University of Santa Clara School of Law. Ms. Horst served as a writ attorney at the Court of Appeal, First Appellate District in San Francisco for over 31 years. She is in private practice in San Francisco. She is a former Assistant District Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco, and is a frequent lecturer on writ practice.
JAMES A. LASSART (chapter 7) received his B.A. in 1964 from the University of Santa Clara and his J.D. in 1967 from the University of San Francisco Law School. Mr. Lassart is a partner at Murphy, Pearson, Bradley & Feeney, with a practice that includes criminal defense. He is a former Assistant U.S. Attorney and Coordinator of the Northwest Region of the President’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, and served for 12 years as an Assistant District Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco.
MORGAN PRICKETT (chapter 11) received his B.A. in 1976 from the University of Southern California, his M.A. in 1977 in political science from the University of Southern California, and his J.D. in 1980 from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco. Mr. Prickett is a Senior Judicial Staff Attorney at the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco. He is the author of Writ of Error Coram Nobis in California, 30 Santa Clara Law Review 1 (1990).
HON. MARGO A. ROCCONI (chapter 18) received her J.D. in 1991 from Pepperdine University School of Law and also has a graduate degree from Georgetown University. Ms. Rocconi is a federal magistrate judge for the Central District of California. Before she was a magistrate judge, she was Chief of the Capital Habeas Unit at the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Los Angeles. She joined the office in 1995 and was the first member of the Capital Habeas Unit, which opened in 1996. Ms. Rocconi is also an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School. In 1992, she clerked for Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. as a scholar for The Brennan Project.
LYNDA A. ROMERO (chapter 10) received her B.A. in 1976 from the University of California, Irvine, and her J.D. in 1979 from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. Ms. Romero is a sole practitioner in San Diego who limits her practice to criminal appeals and postconviction work. Ms. Romero was a member of the State Bar Committee of the Appellate Courts from 1985–1989 and chaired the committee in 1988–1989. In 1998, Ms. Romero received a Clay Award (California Attorneys of the Year) from California Lawyer magazine. Also in 1998, Ms. Romero was named outstanding appellate lawyer of the year by the San Diego Criminal Defense Bar Association.
GEORGE SCHRAER (chapters 4–5) received his B.A. in 1968 from the University of California, Berkeley, and his J.D. in 1971 from the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Law. Mr. Schraer, a sole practitioner in San Diego, has been a criminal appellate attorney for more than 30 years, including 5 years as a staff and supervising attorney in the California State Public Defender Office. Mr. Schraer has been counsel of record in more than 500 appeals, including 12 in the California Supreme Court, and has authored or co-authored amicus curiae briefs in three cases in the United States Supreme Court and 10 cases in the California Supreme Court. He is the 2002 recipient of the Paul Bell Memorial Award “for consistent professional excellence and unselfish commitment to the cause of indigent representation on appeal,” and can still consistently hit a 20-foot jump shot.
JOSEPH TRIGILIO (chapters 12 and 17) received his B.A. in 2003 from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas, and his J.D. in 2006 from the University of San Francisco School of Law. Mr. Trigilio is a Deputy Federal Public Defender in the Central District of California in that office’s Capital Habeas Unit. He is also an adjunct professor at Loyola Law School, where he teaches a seminar on habeas corpus litigation and supervises cases for Loyola Law School’s Project for the Innocent.
CAROLYN WIGGIN (chapters 15–16) received her B.A. in 1990 from the University of California, Berkeley, and her J.D. in 1994 from Yale University School of Law. Ms. Wiggin is an Assistant Federal Defender in the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Sacramento, where she handles appeals and represents state prisoners in federal habeas corpus proceedings.
