2024 California Rules of Court
Rule 4.315. Setting date for execution of death sentence
(a) Open session of court; notice required
A date for execution of a judgment of death under Penal Code section 1193 or 1227 must be set at a public session of the court at which the defendant and the People may be represented.
At least 10 days before the session of court at which the date will be set, the court must mail notice of the time and place of the proceeding by first-class mail, postage prepaid, to the Attorney General, the district attorney, the defendant at the prison address, the defendant's counsel or, if none is known, counsel who most recently represented the defendant on appeal or in postappeal legal proceedings, and the executive director of the California Appellate Project in San Francisco. The clerk must file a certificate of mailing copies of the notice. The court may not hold the proceeding or set an execution date unless the record contains a clerk's certificate showing that the notices required by this subdivision were timely mailed.
Unless otherwise provided by statute, the defendant does not have a right to be present in person.
(Subd (a) amended effective January 1, 2007; previously amended effective July 1, 1990.)
(b) Selection of date; notice
If, at the announced session of court, the court sets a date for execution of the judgment of death, the court must mail certified copies of the order setting the date to the warden of the state prison and to the Governor, as required by statute; and must also, within five days of the making of the order, mail by first-class mail, postage prepaid, certified copies of the order setting the date to each of the persons required to be given notice by (a). The clerk must file a certificate of mailing copies of the order.
(Subd (b) amended effective January 1, 2007.)
Rule 4.315 amended effective January 1, 2007; adopted as rule 490 effective July 1, 1989; previously amended effective July 1, 1990; previously renumbered effective January 1, 2001.