Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.391 · Article 2. Appeals From Superior Court Decisions in Death Penalty-Related Habeas Corpus Proceedings
Qualifications and appointment of counsel by the Court of Appeal
Text — As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
(a) Qualifications
To be appointed by the Court of Appeal to represent an indigent petitioner not represented by the State Public Defender in an appeal under this article, an attorney must:
(1) Meet the minimum qualifications established by rule 8.652 for attorneys to be appointed to represent a person in a death penalty-related habeas corpus proceeding, including being willing to cooperate with an assisting counsel or entity that the court may designate;
(2) Be familiar with appellate practices and procedures in the California courts, including those related to death penalty appeals; and
(3) Not have represented the petitioner in the habeas corpus proceedings that are the subject of the appeal unless the petitioner and counsel expressly request, in writing, continued representation.
(b) Designation of assisting entity or counsel
Either before or at the time it appoints counsel, the court must designate an assisting entity or counsel.
Notes and commentary — not rule text
History
Rule 8.391 adopted effective April 25, 2019.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
- Official file
- https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/eight/rule8_391
- Text hash
- sha256 4e7ecf8a261ac40d4b0fbe344723ddcb101bd53eb89512c52b479f06573af7c8
- Composed by
- compose_crc.py 2026-10-22: the Judicial Council's rule pages read paragraph by paragraph; verify_crc.py's second reading of the Council's per-title PDFs finds every paragraph
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