When two or more defendants are included in the same accusatory pleading, the court may, at any time before the defendants have gone into their defense, on the application of the prosecuting attorney, direct any defendant to be discharged, that he may be a witness for the people.
Cal. Penal Code § 1099
The Trial
Applied in 31 court decisions — leading case 63 Cal. 2d 779 - People v. Smith (1966)
Most recently applied in 108 Cal. App. 3d 1002 - In Re Geer (August 1980)
Amended by Stats. 1951, Ch. 1674.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.