Lockwood v. Superior Court

Opinion

HANING, J.

Sandra Sue Lockwood and Timothy Raymond Lockwood were accused by information of felony child abuse (Pen. Code, § 273a, subd. (1)) allegedly inflicted upon their young son. A juvenile court dismissed a dependency petition (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 300 et seq.) based on the same facts, and the Lockwoods moved to dismiss the criminal proceedings on the ground of collateral estoppel. Their motion was denied; this petition for an extraordinary writ followed. We issued an alternative writ of prohibition. We conclude that the Lockwoods’ position has merit and that a peremptory writ of…