A state appeals court panel today upheld a transient’s conviction for murdering a University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) graduate student who was stabbed 46 times inside a Hancock Park furniture store in an attack captured in a chilling audio recording. The three-justice panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal rejected the defense’s contention that Smith’s trial attorney violated the Racial Justice Act by comparing the defendant’s actions to an animal at the time he killed Brianna Kupfer, 22, on Jan. 13, 2022.

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(Subscription required) The case challenges the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's decision to exempt the conservancy's Restoration Management Permit from California Environmental Quality Act review.

Div. One of the Fourth District Court of Appeal yesterday upheld, in a divided opinion, the first-degree murder conviction of a man who argued that his right to a fair trial was undermined by a judge’s failure to adequately investigate the circumstances surrounding a juror’s dismissal from the panel after deliberations had begun.