In re Brown

CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 14, 2022
DocketB313533
StatusPublished

This text of In re Brown (In re Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Brown, (Cal. Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

Filed 3/14/22 CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SEVEN

In re B313533

KERNELL BROWN, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BA480693)

on Habeas Corpus.

ORIGINAL PROCEEDINGS on petition for writ of habeas corpus. Lynne M. Hobbs, Judge. Petition granted. Kernell Brown, in pro. per.; and John P. Dwyer, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Petitioner. George Gascón, District Attorney, Tracey Whitney, Grace Shin and Elizabeth Marks, Deputy District Attorneys, for the People. __________________________ In In re Humphrey (2021) 11 Cal.5th 135 (Humphrey) the Supreme Court held conditioning pretrial release from custody solely on whether an arrestee can afford bail is unconstitutional. When nonmonetary conditions of release would be inadequate to protect public and victim safety and to ensure an arrestee’s appearance at trial and a financial condition is necessary, the trial court “must consider the arrestee’s ability to pay the stated amount of bail—and may not effectively detain the arrestee ‘solely because’ the arrestee ‘lacked the resources’ to post bail.” (Id. at p. 143.) When no option other than refusing pretrial release can reasonably protect the State’s compelling interest in victim and community safety, the Humphrey Court continued, “a court must first find by clear and convincing evidence that no condition short of detention could suffice and then ensure the detention otherwise complies with statutory and constitutional requirements.” (Ibid.) What the trial court may not do is make continued detention depend on the arrestee’s financial condition. Yet that is precisely the effect of the superior court’s order denying Kernell Brown’s motion, filed after the decision in Humphrey, to reduce his $2.45 million bail to an amount he could afford. Brown remains in custody awaiting trial on charges he sexually assaulted two children. We deem his petition for writ of mandate challenging the order denying his motion to reduce bail a petition for writ of habeas corpus; grant the petition; and order the trial court to hold a new hearing at which it is to consider nonmonetary alternatives to money bail, determine Brown’s ability to afford the amount of money bail if it is to be set, and follow the procedures and make the findings necessary for a valid order of detention if no conditions for pretrial release will

2 adequately protect the government’s interests in the safety of potential victims and the public generally or the integrity of the criminal proceedings. (See Humphrey, supra, 11 Cal.5th at p. 146.) FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND 1. The Initial Bail Proceedings Brown was charged in a felony complaint on August 28, 2019 with one count of oral copulation or sexual penetration of a child 10 years of age or younger (Pen. Code, § 288.7, subd. (b)) 1 and two counts of committing a lewd act on a child under age 14 (§ 288, subd. (a)). It was specially alleged that Brown had committed an offense against more than one victim within the meaning of California’s one strike law. (§ 667.61, subds. (b) & (e).) At his initial arraignment Brown’s bail was set at $1.45 million. An amended felony complaint containing the same three charges and one strike allegation was filed October 30, 2019. Brown’s bail was increased to $3.45 million. An information was filed June 8, 2020, again containing three counts of sexual abuse involving two children with the special one strike allegation. Brown was arraigned on June 18, 2020, pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied the special allegation. On August 20, 2020 Brown’s counsel orally moved to reduce bail. After consultation with the prosecutor, the trial court reduced Brown’s bail to $2.45 million.

1 Statutory references are to this code.

3 2. Brown’s Post-Humphrey Motion To Reduce Bail On May 13, 2021, several weeks after the Supreme Court’s decision in Humphrey, supra, 11 Cal.5th 135, Brown, now representing himself, moved for release on his own recognizance or, alternatively, to have his bail reduced to no more than $1,000. In his motion Brown admitted “the crimes he is being accused of are serious and violent,” but argued he was indigent and would accept nonfinancial conditions of release, including electronic monitoring, community housing, home detention, treatment and education programs, a pretrial case manager and a protective order. Brown also acknowledged he had a criminal record but insisted his prior convictions were for nonviolent or nonserious offenses. “[T]he last conviction was in 2013,” he explained, “which was a call to answer warrant from 2005.” Brown attached a declaration attesting to his indigency and lack of current employment and averred he had no future prospects of income. The trial court heard argument on Brown’s motion on June 17, 2021. At the outset of the hearing the court stated Humphrey was inapplicable to Brown’s case because Humphrey did not apply to a case where the defendant was charged with a serious and violent felony. Further explaining its understanding of the Supreme Court’s decision, the trial court said, even when Humphrey applied, it required consideration of an arrestee’s financial condition only if the court first determined there existed unusual circumstances justifying a deviation from the approved bail schedule. The prosecutor agreed with the court that Humphrey “did not overrule [section] 1275,” which authorizes setting bail below the amount established by the county bail schedule for serious or violent felonies only upon a finding of unusual circumstances

4 (§ 1275, subd. (c)), and argued there were no such unusual circumstances in this case. After detailing the factual allegations supporting the charges against Brown, the prosecutor continued, “Mr. Brown has quite a criminal history, including criminal history in other states. He mentioned in the motion that he just filed that the last time he was brought into the criminal justice system it was because of a warrant from years before that he had not responded to or taken care of.” The prosecutor also observed that a life sentence, as Brown faced, “tend[s] to make people more likely to flee those consequences” and noted the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services had removed a number of young children from Brown’s home because the Department did not believe it was safe for them to reside there. Asked to identify any unusual circumstances that would justify deviation from the bail schedule, Brown insisted he had strong ties to the Los Angeles area and was not a flight risk. He asked the court to consider a nonfinancial conditional release, including electronic monitoring with GPS tracking and a pretrial case manager. He explained he had established long-term residential housing in the area through a local community housing facility for veterans and had that organization’s support pending trial of his case. He also stated his willingness to submit to home detention, to enroll in a court-ordered treatment or education program and to obey all protective orders of the court to keep away from either of the two victims in this case. The trial court ultimately concluded no unusual circumstances justified a deviation from the bail schedule and denied Brown’s motion. Explaining its ruling the court stated, “Even if Humphrey applies to abrogate [section] 1275, the court

5 finds that there are no lesser means of protecting the public, in that this seemed to be done in the home with family members, which the court can’t stop family members from seeing the defendant. The court is also mindful of the warrant that was outstanding where the defendant did not obey court orders. The court is mindful of the licensing of Mr. Brown [as a truck driver], as well as the seriousness of the crime.” 3.

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Bluebook (online)
In re Brown, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-brown-calctapp-2022.