People v. Bunker

252 Cal. App. 2d 297
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 30, 1967
DocketCrim. 12880; Crim. 12746
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 252 Cal. App. 2d 297 (People v. Bunker) 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
People v. Bunker, 252 Cal. App. 2d 297 (Cal. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

KINGSLEY, J.

Edward H. Bunker (hereinafter referred to as “defendant”) is presently incarcerated in state prison under two judgments of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County.

In superior court case number 198278, he pled guilty, on March 3, 1958, to the crime of forgery; probation was denied and he was sentenced to state prison. On June 16, 1964, his term was fixed by the Adult Authority at eight years, and, on August 18, 1964, he was released on parole. Thereafter he was returned to prison as a parole violator, his parole was revoked, the term setting was vacated, and he is now held in state prison under the 1958 judgment with his term set at the maximum provided by statute (14 years) (Pen. Code, § 473). In part, his petition for habeas corpus challenged the validity of that confinement, defendant contending that, for reasons discussed below, the revocation of his parole was invalid and that, as a result, his term remains at eight years—a term, *300 according to his contention, completely served over a year ago.

While defendant was on parole from the 1958 sentence, he was arrested and charged with two counts of burglary and one of assault with a deadly weapon. Those charges ultimately resulted in the filing of an information in superior court ease number 317687, his trial on that information, his conviction on May 27, 1966, on the two burglary charges (the assault count having been dismissed in the interest of justice), and his sentence to state prison, the sentences on the two burglary counts running concurrently with each other and concurrently with any unexpired sentence in case number 198278. He has appealed from that judgment; in addition, his petition for habeas corpus challenges the 1966 judgment on grounds hereinafter discussed.

Since, as will be seen, the contentions made on the appeal and on the petition for habeas corpus are, to some extent, interrelated, we deal with both cases in this one opinion. In so doing, we have considered, as bearing on the appeal, the appeal record, the briefs filed by defendant in propria persona and by respective counsel, the exhibits offered and those received in the trial court, the contents of the superior court file in case number 137687 and (it having been considered by the trial court) the superior court file in case No. 205699. In connection with the habeas corpus proceeding, we have considered all of the above matters, together with the additional briefs filed by defendant and by counsel in that matter and the documents attached to the return filed therein by the Attorney General. For the reasons hereinafter set forth, we conclude that the judgment of conviction should be affirmed and the petition for a writ of habeas corpus denied.

I

The attack on the confinement under the 1958 judgment is based on the following facts: Defendant was arrested for the offenses for which he was ultimately convicted in case No. 317687 on October 12, 1964. When he was arraigned in the magistrate’s court, that officer declared a doubt as to defendant’s present sanity, proceedings under section 1368 of the Penal Code were instituted and defendant was committed to Atascadero State Hospital. While he was being held under that commitment, on February 5, 1965, as a result of parole violation charges theretofore filed against him, his parole was "suspended,” he was .ordered returned to prison and the *301 setting of Ms term was vacated, resulting in an automatic resetting of Ms term at the maximum. On September 13, 1965, the Superintendent of Atascadero State Hospital filed his certificate that defendant had returned to sanity and he was returned from that institution to the municipal court. Before he was re-arraigned in connection with the 1964 charges, he was arrested in San Diego on the parole violation matter but, because the proceedings in case No. 317687 intervened, he was not physically returned to state prison until sometime in June 1966. Thereafter a copy of the parole violation charges was served on Mm. He declined to enter a formal plea, although the records before us indicate that he had denied some of the charges. On September 18, 1966, after due notice and hearing, defendant’s parole was revoked, the revocation being expressly based on the portions of the charges which had not been denied by defendant.

Defendant first attacks the action taken in February 1965 on the theory that, since he was then under confinement under a commitment based on a finding that he was mentally incompetent to stand trial, he was likewise incompetent to be the subject of parole violation proceedings. Defendant misapprehends the nature of the 1965 action. It was not a revocation of his parole; it was the suspension authorized by section 3060 of the Penal Code. Under the provisions of that section, the suspension may be without notice or hearing. Its effect is to authorize the return of the parolee to custody so; that formal charges may be served on him and a proper revocation hearing be held. So far as defendant is concerned, the procedure was no different from, and had no greater effect than, the issuance of a bench warrant by a court after the criminal complaint has been filed. Defendant’s parole was not effectively revoked and the re-fixing of his term of sentence did not finally become effective until the action by the Adult Authority on September 18, 1966 1 —a date when he was no longer held under any insanity commitment and when he does not contend that he was incompetent.

*302 As we understand it, defendant also attacks the parole revocation on the grounds: (a) that it rested in part on the 1964 offenses—offenses not adjudicated when the charges were filed; and (b) that the supporting data included evidence against him improperly obtained while he was in a county jail in San Diego. The first contention rests on the same misapprehension above considered. We need not determine whether a pending criminal charge, not yet adjudicated, can be the basis of a parole revocation. Since the revocation here followed, by over three months, defendant’s conviction on the 1964 charges, the fact that those charges remained undetermined in the spring of 1965 is immaterial. A further answer to the first contention, and the answer to the second, is that the record discloses a series of undenied violations of the conditions of parole, independent of the 1964 offenses, and independent of and long prior to the alleged San Diego episode, any one of which constituted cause for parole revocation. 2

Insofar as the petition for habeas corpus attacks the validity of defendant’s present confinement under the 1958 sentence in case No. 198278, it states no facts justifying relief.

II

In case No. 317687, as we have said, defendant was charged with two counts of burglary, in violation of section 459 of the Penal Code and with one count of assault with a deadly weapon, in violation of section 245 of that code. He was found guilty and sentenced on the two burglary counts; the assault count was dismissed. He challenges the judgment of conviction on several grounds. Recognizing that some of his contentions are not available on appeal, he also sought habeas corpus. Because all of his contentions are properly before us *303

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Bluebook (online)
252 Cal. App. 2d 297, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-bunker-calctapp-1967.