Wallace v. Municipal Court

Opinion

SPARKS, J.

Penal Code section 853.6, subdivision (e)(3), provides that the failure of the prosecutor to file the notice to appear or a formal complaint in the municipal or justice court within 25 days of the arrest shall bar prosecution of the misdemeanor charged in the notice to appear. The principal issue in this writ proceeding is whether, for the purposes of the bar of that section, the crime of driving under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or any drug in violation of Vehicle Code section 23152, subdivision (a), is the same offense as driving with a blood-alcohol level of…