Pappa v. Superior Court

Pappa v. Superior Court (1960) 54 Cal.2d 350, arose out of the prosecution of Pappa and her codefendant Finch for murder. Finch disqualified one judge under section 170.6 before the first trial. Following a mistrial, Pappa filed a motion under section 170.6 to disqualify the judge to which the case was assigned for retrial. That motion was denied and Pappa petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ to prohibit the challenged judge from trying the case. The opinion of the Supreme Court, denying the petition, contains this pertinent explanation (at pp. 354-355): "The burden is upon Mrs. Pappa to establish that her interests are substantially adverse to those of her codefendant, Finch . . . .. The showing made by Mrs. Pappa is very meager. She asserts that a conflict of interest between herself and Finch exists because the record of the first trial will show that it has always been the theory of the People that Finch was the principal and that her role was that of an aider and abettor. She states that in view of the widespread interest in her case the court must have some knowledge of it and that the transcript of the first trial will show that her position is substantially adverse to that of Finch. It also appears that she made a motion for a separate trial, which was denied, and that she opposed a motion for change of venue made by Finch. It is not claimed that this is a case where each defendant is attempting to avoid conviction by shifting responsibility for the homicide to the other, but, to the contrary, under Mrs. Pappa's assertions with respect to the theories of the prosecution, it appears likely that Finch's defenses against the charge that he was the principal would support her defense against the charge of aiding and abetting. Although differences of opinion between codefendants as to procedural matters such as the desirability of a change of venue or a separate trial might, under some circumstances, show the existence of substantially adverse interests, it should not be assumed that this is true in the absence of a showing of what the circumstances are and how they affect each of the parties and the relationship between them."