People v. Brandão

210 Cal. App. 4th 568, 148 Cal. Rptr. 3d 426
California Court of Appeal·Decided October 24, 2012·No. No. H037871·Published·Cited by 41 cases

Opinion

Opinion

MARQUEZ, J.

Defendant Antonio Brandáo pleaded no contest to possessing methamphetamine, a felony offense. Nothing in the record indicates that defendant has any gang affiliations or other gang-related history, nor did the underlying offense have anything to do with a gang. On appeal, he claims that the trial court erred by imposing a no-gang-contact probation condition on him. We agree. We will modify the probation condition and, with that modification, affirm the judgment.

PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Defendant pleaded no contest to violating subdivision (a) of Health and Safety Code section 11377 by possessing methamphetamine. The trial court suspended imposition of sentence and placed defendant on three years’ formal probation, including a condition that he not knowingly associate with any gang members.

The probation report proposed imposing the following no-gang-contact condition: “Not associate with any individuals you know or are told by the Probation Officer to be gang members, drug users, or [people] on any form of probation or parole supervision.”

The report stated that defendant had never been involved with any criminal street gangs, nor did he have any family members who associated with such [571]*571groups. Whether this information came from independent research, defendant’s statement, or both is unclear. The report shows that defendant has a criminal record, but none of the offenses in his record appear to be gang related. Accordingly, at sentencing, defense counsel objected to having any no-gang-contact probation condition imposed. “[Tjhere is no [gang] nexus in this case,” counsel asserted.

The trial court replied that “the Court’s position generally is that we don’t want him hanging around gang members, whether he’s a gang person or not.” The court continued, “the reason that we have this kind of condition is to keep him out of trouble, don’t hang around with the wrong crowd. So, it’s not saying anything about his associations, except his future associations aren’t going to be with those people.”

Accordingly, the trial court imposed the following condition: “Not associate with any individuals you know or are told by the Probation Officer to be gang members, drug users, or [people] on any form of probation or parole supervision, except [for] family members subject to the discretion of the Probation Officer.”

FACTS

Because defendant pleaded no contest, we take the facts from the probation report.

On November 20, 2011, a sheriff’s deputy ran a records check on defendant’s car, which he was operating at the time. The car’s license plate appeared to have a valid registration sticker, but the records showed that the registration had expired. The deputy stopped defendant and, after further investigation at the scene, arrested him for displaying the invalid sticker (Veh. Code, §§ 4462, subd. (b), 4462.5, 4853), operating an unregistered vehicle (id., § 4000, subd. (a)(1)), possessing 28.5 grams or less of marijuana (Health & Saf. Code, § 11357, subd. (b)), and violating probation (Pen. Code, § 1203.2, subd. (a)). When defendant was booked into jail, the authorities discovered a quantity of methamphetamine on his person, leading to the methamphetamine possession charge to which defendant pleaded no contest. That discovery also led to a charge of bringing methamphetamine into the jail (Pen. Code, § 4573).

DISCUSSION

On appeal, defendant claims that the trial court infringed on his First Amendment rights and erred under state law in ordering him not to knowingly associate with gang members except under certain limited circumstances. [572]*572Before turning to the merits, we must address whether defendant waived or forfeited his right to present the claim in the reviewing courts.

Defendant personally stated his acceptance of all probation conditions in open court, but only after the trial court had overruled counsel’s objection to the no-gang-contact provision. Under these circumstances, he has not waived his claim; his “ultimate acceptance of the conditions of probation does not preclude him from challenging them on appeal. . . .” (People v. O’Neil (2008) 165 Cal.App.4th 1351, 1355, fn. 1 [81 Cal.Rptr.3d 878].) A rule imposing the procedural bar of waiver in these circumstances would impose an intolerable burden, because a criminal defendant would have to reject probation and be committed to prison or jail in order to preserve the ability to appeal the probation condition.

The other procedural question concerns forfeiture. Defense counsel did not mention a constitutional ground for arguing that the no-gang-contact probation condition would be invalid. There is a strict interpretation of the rule of forfeiture under which a probationer “who contends a condition of probation is constitutionally flawed still has an obligation to object to the condition on that basis in the trial court in order to preserve the claim on appeal.” (People v. Gardineer (2000) 79 Cal.App.4th 148, 151 [93 Cal.Rptr.2d 863], italics added.) Gardineer’s rule requires not only objection but a listing of any constitutional grounds for the objection. In this case, however, counsel was able only to begin her objection. She uttered scarcely more than a few words before the trial court explained that it was uninterested in a challenge to the no-gang-contact provision.

“The parties must, of course, be given a reasonable opportunity to present any relevant argument and evidence.” (People v. Welch (1993) 5 Cal.4th 228, 235 [19 Cal.Rptr.2d 520, 851 P.2d 802].) In In re Antonio C. (2000) 83 Cal.App.4th 1029 [100 Cal.Rptr.2d 218], when “counsel objected to the gang affiliation probation conditions but not to the condition Antonio challenges on appeal” (id. at p. 1033), the court held that the minor had preserved his claim for review because after counsel objected on the different proffered ground, “the court imposed the gang affiliation prohibition conditions without comment other than, ‘Are you through?’ ” (ibid.). The court here was not unduly brusque, but nevertheless it is not evident that counsel had a chance to fully state the grounds for objection before the court expressed that the subject was closed to further debate. Under these circumstances, this case does not fall within Gardineer’s ambit. Defendant preserved his claim for review because his counsel’s “timely objection allow[ed] the court to modify or delete an allegedly unreasonable condition or to explain why it is necessary in the particular case.” (Welch, supra, at p. 235.)

[573]*573There being no procedural bar of waiver or forfeiture, we turn to the merits.

A reviewing court reviews a trial court’s imposition of a probation condition under one of two different standards. The applicable standard depends on the condition’s effect on a defendant’s civil liberties. “ ‘[A] probation condition that imposes limitations on a person’s constitutional rights must closely tailor those limitations to the purpose of the condition to avoid being invalidated as unconstitutionally overbroad.’ ” (People v. Olguin (2008) 45 Cal.4th 375, 384 [87 Cal.Rptr.3d 199, 198 P.3d l].)1 All others are reviewed for abuse of discretion, i.e., “[w]e do not apply such close scrutiny in the absence of a showing that the probation condition infringes upon a constitutional right. . .

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People v. Brandão, 210 Cal. App. 4th 568, 148 Cal. Rptr. 3d 426 (Cal. Ct. App. 2012).

210 Cal. App. 4th 568 (People v. Brandão) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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