A man who broke into the home of an 85-year-old woman whom he violently raped was properly convicted under a vestige of the felony-murder rule where the victim died following a fall in her home while still traumatized by the attack, fractured her hip,  and experienced complications from surgery, the Fifth District Court of Appeal has determined.

Div. Six of this district’s Court of Appeal held yesterday that a defendant was properly convicted of felony false imprisonment based on testimony that he drove erratically with his then-wife in the car and, when she demanded that he let her out of the vehicle, told her “try it” with a “malicious” laugh, rejecting the assertion that prosecutors must show that he threatened force that is greater than that necessary to effectuate restraint on a person’s liberty.

(Subscription required) A Superior Court judge has refused to force a multibillion-dollar credit union merger between California Coast Credit Union and San Diego County Credit Union, finding the plaintiff failed to show a likelihood of success and that federal regulators had not approved the deal.

Div. Three of the First District Court of Appeal held Friday that a trial judge erred in finding that a Texas-based radiologist, who contracted with a San Diego-based company to analyze imaging studies generated in multiple states at his Houston-area home, is on the hook for California taxes as a “a sole proprietorship which carries on a unitary business…within and without the state” under §17951-4(c) of Title 18 of the Code of Regulations.