People v. Navarro

In People v. Navarro (2007) 40 Cal.4th 668, the Supreme Court interpreted section 1181, subdivision 6, which allows an appellate court to modify a verdict or judgment "'if the evidence shows the defendant to be not guilty of the degree of the crime of which he was convicted, but guilty of a lesser degree thereof, or a lesser crime included therein'" and a similar provision found in section 1260. (Navarro, supra, at p. 676.) The Court of Appeal had found there was insufficient evidence of a completed carjacking and modified the judgment to instead reflect convictions on two lesser included offenses. The Supreme Court reversed, stating it was deciding only a "narrow" issue--that those statutes did not provide an appellate court the authority to substitute two lesser included offenses for one greater offense. (Id. at pp. 675, 679.)