People v. Parish CA2/6, B312011

On March 25, 2020, police executed a search warrant of Parish’s home, vehicle, computer, and phone and found checks, IDs, and other persons’ identifying information.
Parish was charged in Case No. 2020009833 with multiple identity-theft and theft counts based on items discovered in that search.
Five months later Parish pleaded guilty to identity theft (John P.) and grand theft (Furniture City) and agreed to 120 days custody and 36 months formal probation; sentencing was set for September 24, 2020.
On the day of sentencing Parish was arrested again and charged in a new complaint (Case No. 2020027525) with multiple identity-theft counts involving victim V.U., some conduct alleged to have occurred in 2019.
Parish moved to dismiss the second prosecution under the Kellett rule (prohibition on successive prosecutions arising from the same act or course of conduct); the trial court granted the motion, finding the V.U. offenses were part of the same course of conduct and that evidence (including phone data and items found in the March 25 search) put the prosecution on notice.
The People appealed; the Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Kellett bars the second prosecution for offenses related to V.U.	Kellett inapplicable because offenses occurred at different times/places and required different evidence	Prosecution knew or should have known of all related offenses from the March 25 search (phone/items); all arose from same course of conduct and must be prosecuted together	Affirmed dismissal: offenses involving V.U. were part of the same course of conduct discovered by the March 25 search; Kellett bars successive prosecution

Kellett v. Superior Court, 63 Cal.2d 822 (1966) (establishes rule barring successive prosecutions for offenses arising from same act or course of conduct)
People v. Lohbauer, 29 Cal.3d 364 (1981) (explains Kellett requires prosecution of all known offenses in one proceeding)
People v. Britt, 32 Cal.4th 944 (2004) (trial court applies Kellett case-by-case)
People v. Correa, 54 Cal.4th 331 (2012) (discusses application of Kellett principles)
People v. Ochoa, 248 Cal.App.4th 15 (2016) (People's cited authority arguing separate times/places can show separate conduct)