In Re Klock

133 Cal. App. 3d 726, 184 Cal. Rptr. 234, 1982 Cal. App. LEXIS 1752
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 12, 1982
DocketCrim. 23747
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 133 Cal. App. 3d 726 (In Re Klock) 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 Klock, 133 Cal. App. 3d 726, 184 Cal. Rptr. 234, 1982 Cal. App. LEXIS 1752 (Cal. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinions

Opinion

SCOTT, Acting P. J.

This petition seeks to set aside an extradition order by which petitioner is to be returned to New York for parole violation proceedings.

The question presented is whether a fugitive from a sister state who has signed a waiver of extradition as a condition of parole can be extradited from California without formal extradition proceedings. We conclude that under the compulsion of the holding in In re Patterson (1966) 64 Cal.2d 357 [49 Cal.Rptr. 801, 411 P.2d 897] advance waivers of extradition are ineffective in California, thus requiring that California authorities obtain a Governor’s warrant issued pursuant to Penal Code section 1548 et seq. (Uniform Criminal Extradition Act) in order to return a fugitive parolee.

On May 20, 1981, a complaint was filed in municipal court seeking to extradite petitioner to New York for violating her parole when she fled from that state on December 28, 1978. Petitioner opposed extradition. At the hearing set on June 18, 1981, instead of presenting a Governor’s warrant issued pursuant to the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act, the court was presented with a written “waiver” of extradition allegedly signed by the petitioner in 1978 at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in New York. Petitioner denied having signed the waiver and made other contentions as to the invalidity of the proceedings to extradite her to New York. The court apparently accepted the validity of the waiver of extradition and therefore remanded petitioner into the custody of the sheriff for delivery to the New York officials. Subsequently the California Supreme Court, in response to a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, issued an order to show cause returnable in the [728]*728superior court ordering the sheriff to show “why the purported waiver of extradition should not be deemed ineffective and petitioner entitled to demand formal extradition in light of Penal Code section 1555.1, In re Patterson, [supra,] 64 Cal.2d 357, 363, and In re Satterfield [1966], 64 Cal.2d 419, 421-422.” The Supreme Court stayed extradition pending final disposition of the petition for habeas corpus.

A hearing was held wherein evidence was taken as to the validity of petitioner’s signature on the waiver of extradition. The petition for habeas corpus was denied. In her petition for a writ of habeas corpus to this court, petitioner again challenges the validity of her extradition based upon her waiver. We conclude that the purported waiver of extradition signed in New York is ineffective in light of the requirements of Penal Code section 1555.1 and the holding in In re Patterson, supra, 64 Cal.2d 357.

Penal Code sections 1548 through 1558, the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act (hereafter the extradition act) provide the legal framework for extraditing fugitives from justice. Section 1555.1 specifies the manner in which an arrested person may waive extradition: “Any person arrested in this State charged with having committed any crime in another State or alleged to have escaped from confinement, or broken the terms of his bail, probation or parole may waive the issuance and service of the Governor’s warrant provided for in this chapter and all other procedure incidental to extradition proceedings, by subscribing in the presence of a magistrate within this State a writing which states that he consents to return to the demanding State; provided, however, that before such waiver shall be subscribed by such person, the magistrate shall inform him of his rights to require the issuance and service of a warrant of extradition as provided in this chapter.

“If such waiver is executed, it shall forthwith be forwarded to the office of the Governor of this State and filed therein. The magistrate shall direct the officer having such person in custody to deliver such person forthwith to the duly authorized agent of the demanding State, and shall deliver to such agent a copy of such waiver.

“Nothing in this section shall be deemed to limit the rights of the accused person to return voluntarily and without formality to the demanding State, nor shall this procedure of waiver be deemed to be an exclusive procedure or to limit the powers, rights or duties of the officers of [729]*729the demanding State or of this State.” (Added by Stats. 1937, ch. 554, § 28, p. 1589.) (Italics added.)

Case law has reiterated the requirements that such a waiver be signed before a magistrate with proper admonitions (In re Schoengarth (1967) 66 Cal.2d 295, 303 [57 Cal.Rptr. 600, 425 P.2d 200]) and that the waiver must be signed in the asylum state (In re Patterson, supra, 64 Cal.2d at p. 363; In re Satterfield, supra, 64 Cal.2d 419, 421 [50 Cal.Rptr. 284, 412 P.2d 540]).

No contention is made that the purported waiver here was signed in California before a magistrate. Instead, the Attorney General argues that this waiver satisfies the third paragraph of Penal Code section 1555.1. He argues persuasively that since the code states that the specified procedure shall not be deemed exclusive, it permits removal based upon a waiver signed in another state as a condition of release on parole. He cites several cases from other jurisdictions which support that reading.

A Texas decision catalogues and discusses the various extradition waiver cases (Ex Parte Johnson (Tex. Crim. 1980) 610 S.W.2d 757). Discussing the extradition act, where language similar to the third paragraph of Penal Code section 1555.1 relied upon by the Attorney General is cited, the Johnson court reviews various “advance waiver of extradition” cases and observes “[t]he following state cases also support the proposition that prior waivers of extradition as a condition of parole are enforceable and provide an alternative to extradition or waiver under the UCEA: [Citations.] These cases have dealt with waivers as a condition of parole. We hold that formal extradition proceedings are not necessary to the return of absconding parolees or probationers who have signed a prior waiver of extradition as a condition to their release.”

It is clear that our sister state courts have construed the provisions of the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act to permit the return of parolees without formal extradition proceedings where an advance waiver of extradition has been signed as a condition of parole.

However, In re Patterson, supra, 64 Cal.2d 357, holds otherwise. In Patterson, a Texas parolee came to California, apparently in violation of his parole, and committed burglaries in Los Angeles. Because the subsequently imposed California terms were to run concurrently with his Texas sentence, the Patterson court concluded he was entitled to a [730]*730transfer to Texas. However, the Attorney General proposed that his transfer be conditioned upon an advance waiver of the right to demand extradition proceedings at the time of his possible return to California. The Patterson

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In Re Klock
133 Cal. App. 3d 726 (California Court of Appeal, 1982)

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Bluebook (online)
133 Cal. App. 3d 726, 184 Cal. Rptr. 234, 1982 Cal. App. LEXIS 1752, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-klock-calctapp-1982.