People v. Chessman

218 P.2d 769, 35 Cal. 2d 455, 19 A.L.R. 2d 1084, 1950 Cal. LEXIS 352

• Court: California Supreme Court
• Decided: May 19, 1950
• Docket: Crim. 5006
• Status: Published

Opinions

SCHAUER, J.

Defendant has pending before this court an appeal from judgments of conviction of 17 felonies. Two of these judgments impose the death penalty. The appeal from the judgments, however, has not yet been submitted for decision and this opinion does not consider such appeal on its merits but is addressed exclusively to disposition of the mesne proceedings hereinafter specified.

In the subject proceedings defendant, who has chosen to represent himself throughout the litigation, has filed with this court his “Motion for order of Supreme Court to order Superior Court to augment, correct and properly certify record, to order a hearing in the Superior Court relative to this matter, and for the Supreme Court to agree to decide on appeal (or otherwise) certain undecided questions of law relative to the preparation of a reporter’s transcript for use on appeal in a capital offense and the applicability of section 953e C.C.P. to criminal cases,” his “Motion to dismiss automatic appeal without determination, ’ ’ with written argument in support of each motion; he has noticed and briefed an appeal “from the final order of settlement and so-called certification of the reporter’s transcript”; and he has filed a “List of inaccuracies and omissions in the record.”

The burden of defendant’s complaint is that the reporter’s transcript on appeal was not prepared in the manner required by law, that it is not complete and accurate, and that no complete, accurate and legally prepared record can be obtained. The transcript was prepared in a situation for which the Rules on Appeal do not expressly provide. After a jury had found defendant guilty, the court reporter died without having completed his transcript. The transcript which has been filed with this court was in part prepared, pursuant to court order, by another reporter from the notes of the original reporter. We have concluded that the transcript before us, with certain augmentations hereinafter described, will permit a just and fair disposition of the appeal on its merits.

The official court reporter, Mr. Perry, prior to his death, made dictaphone records of part of his notes. A portion of these records had been transcribed before Mr. Perry’s death, and the transcription of the remainder was completed after his death, by a transcriber who had been employed by Mr. Perry for many years. Pursuant to court order another official court reporter, Mr. Stanley Fraser, read and transcribed the balance of Mr. Perry’s notes in rough draft form. He was aided in this by voluminous notes which had been taken by the judge during the trial. The deputy district attorney who tried the ease read the rough draft, and Mr. Fraser copied it in final form. A copy was sent to defendant, who was confined in San Quentin, and he submitted a written “Motion to augment and correct record” in which he requested a number of specific changes and made a number of general complaints that large parts of the proposed transcript were inaccurate and incomplete. The transcribing reporter, with the deputy district attorney who tried the case, checked these claimed inaccuracies against the original reporter’s notes and found that some changes should and others should not be made. The trial judge then heard defendant’s written objections to the transcript, allowed some and disallowed others. Mr. Fraser has certified that the transcript prepared by him is “a full, true and complete transcript of said shorthand notes of said Ernest R. Perry, deceased, upon said trial to the best of my ability.” The trial judge has certified that “the objections made to the transcript herein have been heard and determined and the same is now corrected in accordance with such determination . . . and the same is now, therefore, approved by me.”

The trial judge directed preparation of the reporter’s transcript in the manner above described in an effort to substantially comply with rule 33(c) of the Rules on Appeal. That rule provides, “Where a judgment of death has been rendered and an appeal is taken automatically as provided by law, the entire record of the action shall be prepared.” The “entire record” consists of reporter’s and clerk’s transcripts (the customary record on appeal from a judgment of conviction) containing both “normal record” (rule 33(a)) and “additional record” (rule 33(b)).

Rule 35(b) provides that “The reporter shall prepare . . . the reporter’s transcript . . . and shall append ... a certificate that it is correct.” Rule 36(a) provides that “The parties may present the appeal on an agreed statement” and rule 36(b) provides that “If a transcription of any part of the oral proceedings cannot be obtained for any reason, the appellant, as soon as the impossibility of obtaining a transcript is discovered, may serve and file an application for permission to prepare a settled statement in place thereof.” There is no express provision for a situation such as the present, where literal compliance with rule 35(b) has become impossible without fault of any party and where defendant-appellant has not chosen to appeal on an agreed statement.

It is defendant’s position that he is entitled, as a matter of absolute right, to a reporter’s transcript prepared in literal compliance with rule 35(b), that in the absence of such a transcript this court cannot determine his appeal, and, hence, that he is entitled to a new trial. Prior to the adoption of the Rules on Appeal in 1943, an appellant had no such right to a transcript prepared in a particular manner. Furthermore, neither the death of a reporter nor impossibility of procuring a transcript is a ground for granting a new trial. Section 1181 of the Penal Code provides that “When a verdict has been rendered against the defendant, the court may, upon his application, grant a new trial, in the following cases only:” (Italics added.) It enumerates seven grounds, none of which encompasses the situation depicted here.

Defendant cites many early cases for the proposition that if the record is not authenticated in accord with the applicable rule or statute the appellate court cannot consider it. These cases do not aid defendant; they so hold, but they further hold that because the record is not proper the appeal will be dismissed or the judgment of conviction affirmed. The rules in effect immediately prior to the adoption of the present Rules on Appeal required that “If a transcription of the phonographic reporter’s notes cannot, for any reason, be obtained, the appellant shall cause to be prepared and filed, in the place thereof, a statement of such of the proceedings as were or shall be ordered by the court to be transcribed.” (Rule II, § 9, 213 Cal. xli.) If the appellant did not file such record his appeal could be dismissed. (Rule V, § 1, 213 Cal. xliii. ) We do not believe that the 1943 Rules on Appeal were intended to so radically change the law that an appellant is now not only relieved of the burden of furnishing a statement on appeal where a transcription of the reporter’s notes cannot be obtained, but also absolutely entitled to a transcription of those notes made and certified by the reporter who took the notes.

Rather, where literal compliance with the rules has become impossible without fault of anyone, and we are confronted with a situation not expressly covered by the rules, we should inquire whether there is or can be made available a record on which this court can perform its function of reviewing the cause and determining whether there was error in the court below and, if so, whether such error requires reversal. If a record can be “prepared in such a manner as to enable the court to pass upon the questions sought to be raised” (3 Am.Jur. 212), then there is no rational likelihood or legally cognizable possibility of injustice to the appealing defendant even though a verbatim record certified by the official court reporter cannot be supplied.

Defendant, as stated above, urges that the reporter’s transcript filed with this court is not, and cannot be made, complete, accurate, and adequate for a fair disposition of his appeal. Concededly the reporter’s transcript filed in this appeal is not a verbatim record of every word that was said in the trial court. But it is certified to be “full, true and correct ... to the best of [the transcribing reporter’s] ability”; and the trial court determined that the transcribing reporter’s ability was sufficient to produce an adequate record. Although reporters who live until their transcripts have been typed, whether by themselves or as is more usual by their transcribers from their dictation, attach to the transcript a certificate, in the language of rule 35(b), “that it is correct,” reality requires us to recognize that such certificate means no more than that the transcript is correct to the best of the particular reporter’s and the transcriber’s abilities. Certainly it is to be expected that a reporter can read his own shorthand notes better or more easily than those of another reporter; but this does not mean that in no case can one good reporter read and transcribe with substantial accuracy the notes of another. It is essentially a question of fact to be determined in each case in which it may arise. Here the trial judge, aided by his own copious notes, has determined that the record is adequate. Conceivably, the respective and particular abilities of the reporters and transcribers in this case may have produced a record as complete and accurate as a record in some other case wholly taken, transcribed and certified by a single reporter. The minimum statutory requirements for court reporters (immediate transcription of material dictated at the rate of 150 words per minute for five minutes; Code Civ. Proc., § 270) obviously do not insure that all official reporters can produce altogether complete and accurate transcripts of lengthy trials wherein testimony and argument are rapidly presented over extended periods.

It should also be noted that the Buies on Appeal contemplate that no reporter is infallible, that errors may exist in a proposed transcript, that corrections may be proposed and that it shall be the duty of the trial judge to finally determine the record. (See rule 12 relating to “Augmentation and correction of the record”; rule 35(c), providing that “If a proposed correction is filed, the judge shall promptly determine the matter. After corrections have been made, the judge shall certify that all objections made thereto have been determined, and that the transcripts have been corrected in accordance with such determination”; and rule 36(b), providing that “If a transcription of any part of the oral proceedings cannot be obtained for any reason, the appellant, as soon as the impossibility of obtaining a transcript is discovered, may serve and file an application for permission to prepare a settled statement in place thereof.”)

The Rules on Appeal are intended to simplify and facilitate appellate procedure, not to provide for new trials on grounds which did not theretofore exist and which are not necessary to the fair administration of justice. On this appeal, as in every appeal, it is to be presumed that defendant has been accorded a fair trial and that the judgment of conviction is valid. We perceive no .legal impropriety and no unfairness in placing on an appellant in the situation of Chessman the burden of showing either prejudicial error in the record or that the record is so inadequate that he is unable to show such error. Inconsequential inaccuracies or omissions in a record cannot prejudice a party; if in truth there does exist some consequential inaccuracy or omission, the appellant must show what it is and why it is consequential. The situation is similar to that in People v. Botkin (1908), 9 Cal.App. 244, 249 [98 P. 861], where the court said, “we know of no rule that permits us to presume that defendant did not have a fair trial because a portion of the record upon . . . appeal has been destroyed without fault of either party.”

In the absence of a showing of prejudice in the record, or of prejudicial inadequacy in its content, we must give heed to the repeatedly declared policy of this state relating to criminal appeals. “After hearing the appeal, the court must give judgment without regard to technical errors or defects . . . which do not affect the substantial rights of the parties.” (Pen. Code, § 1258.) “Neither a departure from the form or mode prescribed by this code in respect to any pleading or proceeding, nor an error or mistake therein, renders it invalid unless it has actually prejudiced the defendant, or tended to his prejudice, in respect to a substantial right.” (Pen. Code, § 1404.) “No indictment ... is insufficient, nor can the trial, judgment, ... or other proceeding thereon be affected by reason of any defect or imperfection in matter of form which does not prejudice a substantial right of the defendant upon the merits.” (Pen. Code, § 960.)

Examination of the record in the light of defendant’s claims discloses that it is adequate to permit us to ascertain whether there has been a fair trial and whether there has been any miscarriage of justice. The record is not, as defendant asserts, “unintelligible” in material part. It clearly shows (and there is no claim that it is insufficient or incorrect in this regard) the substance and the nature of the People’s case and the substance and the nature of the defense of Chessman: Victims of the crimes testified for the People that certain criminal acts were committed and identified defendant as the person who committed them (except in one instance, a count of grand theft, where defendant was connected with the crime by evidence that the property was found in his possession); defendant denied that he committed the crimes and witnesses for him testified to alibis for some of them. The record appears to contain ample evidence to support the verdicts and there is no suggestion that this evidence was not actually received at the trial. Appraisal of the sufficiency of the evidence, insofar as any contention of the defendant is concerned, presents no problems of gradations of possible states of mind of defendant, but only the questions whether certain behavior (which the People’s witnesses testified and the jury believed was behavior of defendant) constituted kidnaping for the purpose of robbery with bodily harm, first degree robbery, attempts at robbery and rape, violation of section 288a of the Penal Code, and grand theft.

The asserted “inaccuracies and omissions in the record” of which defendant complains are as follows: (a) The greater part of defendant’s complaints consists of general claims that large portions of the transcript of testimony of witnesses are incomplete or inaccurate. Defendant does not claim that any different and more accurate transcription of the notes would show that the trial court erroneously admitted or excluded any evidence. Certainly no factual basis is shown, and none is even claimed, for concluding that any erroneously admitted or excluded evidence prejudicially affected the verdicts. Claimed inaccuracies concern conflicting testimony and the credibility of witnesses. Making available to this court the precise words of every witness would not enable it to upset the jury’s determination that the People’s witnesses, rather than defendant and his witnesses, spoke the truth. As in People v. Botkin (1908), supra, p. 249 of 9 Cal.App., “Under the condition of the evidence in this case [or any factual variation of the record suggested by defendant] .... any views that we might have as to the credit that should be given to the evidence . . . could not justify us in reversing the judgment founded on the verdict of the jury that heard and saw all the witnesses as they gave their testimony.” (b) Defendant asserts that the record is mistaken in showing that he did not cross-examine certain witnesses. The trial judge’s determination to the contrary is supported not only by his own notes and the testimony of Mr. Fraser, the transcribing reporter, but also by the testimony of Mr. A1 Matthews, deputy public defender, who acted as “legal adviser” (not counsel) for defendant during the trial, (c) Defendant has specified some particular changes in the record which, he says, the trial judge should have allowed. The unimportance of these matters is apparent for, had the proposed changes been allowed, the effect of the record and the result of an appeal would have been in no way affected, (d) Defendant asserts that sarcastic statements of the prosecuting attorney during the trial have been omitted or “smoothed over.” There is no claim that defendant objected to these statements or requested the court to admonish the prosecuting attorney and instruct the jury to disregard improper remarks, nor is there any claim that the remarks were so serious that their effect could not have been removed by admonishment. In only one instance was a change made in Mr. Fraser’s' transcription of statements of the prosecuting attorney. This change was in the portion of the notes dictated by Mr. Perry but not typed by his transcriber until after his death. It was requested by the prosecuting attorney. In allowing it the trial judge said, “this is one of the matters that I do particularly recall because of the unusual character of the situation. ’ ’ Even had the correction not been allowed, defendant could not on appeal maintain that the statement amounted to prejudicial misconduct, for it was clearly invited by defendant, (e) Finally, defendant claims that in the transcription of the prosecuting attorney’s closing argument “Objectionable, prejudicial matter has been weeded out . . Abusive references to the defendant have vanished.” Defendant specifies only two instances of such asserted inaccuracies. He says, “Statements that ‘five to life means nothing to Chessman—life means nothing to Chessman’ are abandoned in the transcription.” Defendant appears to be mistaken; a number of such statements appear in the transcript. And, defendant says, the transcript omits or modifies “gross misstatements as to the law, incurable by instruction, to the effect that life without possibility of parole doesn’t mean that at all, and that the jury should and must return the death penalty because otherwise there was imminent danger the defendant again would be loosed by a laz administration of the law to prey upon society because the defendant was a cunning individual who knew the angles. ’ ’ Defendant appears to be mistaken in this claim also. The transcript contains a great deal of argument in accord with the quoted statements, and the language of the transcript is no more temperate than that quoted!

Defendant is correct in his contention that he is entitled to augmentation of the transcript by inclusion of the voir dire examination of jurors and the opening statement of the prosecuting attorney. These are part of the “entire record” (that is, both the “normal” and the “additional” record) which, in substantial compliance with rule 33(a) (2), should be included in the reporter’s transcript. Defendant also asks inclusion of a motion “that he be allowed to exercise reasonable freedom of movement within the courtroom . . . and the denial thereof by the trial court.” It appears from defendant’s discussion of this matter that it will appear in a transcription of the voir dire examination of jurors.

Defendant further asks for inclusion in the record of a transcription of what is indicated in the record as • a “ (Discussion as to subpoenaing witnesses) ” and asserts that the transcript does not contain a “discussion between the trial court, counsel and the appellant, wherein it was shown by appellant, and conceded by the deputy district attorney, that an attorney, William Roy Ives, given the opportunity to prepare the case, would appear with or for defendant.” Both these “discussions” took place after the cause was called for trial and before a jury was selected. Defendant does not claim that they were heard by prospective jurors. He says that a main point on which he will rely on appeal is that he was not allowed to subpoena defense witnesses. The record before us shows that defendant asked that two witnesses who resided out of the county be subpoenaed and that the trial judge properly refused to order their attendance because defendant’s “Affidavit to substantiate necessity for issuance of foreign subpoenas” affirmatively showed that the desired testimony of these witnesses (the Chairman of the Adult Authority and the Classification and Parole Representative at Folsom) would not have been admissible. (See Pen. Code, § 1330.) Defendant does not explain what other witnesses he wished to call or what testimony he expected them to give. It appears that three days before the trial the deputy district attorney, with defendant’s consent, gave to a deputy sheriff a list of 20 desired witnesses prepared by defendant and instructed the sheriff to serve subpoenas on the listed persons. Twelve of these people appeared and testified; two were served and their nonappearance is not explained; two others were the above-mentioned persons who resided out of the county; still another was present in court but did not testify. It further appears that throughout the trial defendant had the services of Mr. A1 Mathews, deputy public defender, as “legal adviser” and the services of an investigator for the public defender’s office who interviewed 34 witnesses, and subpoenaed some of them, for the defendant.

A record of what was said in the “discussions” could not lead to reversal on the ground of defendant’s claims that he was forced to go to trial unprepared because he had not subpoenaed witnesses and was not allowed a continuance to permit Mr. Ives to prepare,.because of the following occurrence (shown by a portion of the record which was reported by an official reporter other than Mr. Perry, deceased): Forty-eight days before the trial began, defendant appeared for plea. He had previously been represented by counsel but at this time he said, “I wish to represent myself.” The following colloquy took place:

“The Court: Are you a good lawyer?

“The Defendant Chessman: I think so.

“The Court : Few lawyers say they are good.

“The Defendant Chessman: I think I am a good enough lawyer.

“The Court: You don’t want to trust it to a lawyer?

“The Defendant Chessman: I don’t want to do it.

“The Court: What will probably happen, if we set this case down for trial, you will want a lawyer and then ask for a continuance. If you want to try your own case, there is no way we can tell you not to. You will have to try it or have somebody hired to represent you in plenty of time to try the case at the time it is set.

“The Defendant Chessman: I understand that.

“The Court: Because many times men with past experiences such as you have had—you know the tricks of the trade, and they get a lawyer at the very last minute. You really want to try your own case ?

“The Defendant Chessman: That is correct.”

Defendant pleaded, the court set the case for trial, and said, “I want the record to show that we have advised Mr. Chessman that he must be ready for trial on the day that this case is set and that the court will entertain no motion to continue the case, even if you have in the meantime decided to hire a lawyer ... I have told you why we object to this procedure is because of the advantage which shrewd defendants who have had courtroom experience take to stall the case because of their knowledge if they get a lawyer who isn’t prepared, he can successfully get a continuance and it will not be granted in your case. ’ ’ The record further shows that defendant repeatedly refused to permit the public defender to represent him.

Defendant urges that he should have been allowed to appear personally in the proceedings which resulted in the present reporter’s transcript, and that he should now be allowed to appear personally before the trial judge in support of his position. Since the entry of the judgments of conviction defendant has been lawfully imprisoned awaiting determination of his appeal. He is presently lawfully confined in San Quentin. He was not and is not entitled as a matter of right to go about the state making appearances before courts to present legal arguments. Neither reason, public policy, nor any express provision of law requires defendant’s personal presence at proceedings to determine the accuracy of a transcript. From a time before his trial began defendant has repeatedly claimed, as he does now, that in connection with his representation of himself he is entitled to rights and should be accorded privileges greater than those of a defendant who is represented by counsel. The judges of the superior court before whom he appeared carefully and repeatedly explained to him that his rights and privileges as a prisoner could not be enlarged by his decision to represent himself. In the trial court he was repeatedly offered and refused counsel, and he has refused to accept appointment of counsel to represent him before this court because counsel who volunteered to represent him could not agree to his “ condition he can continue in pro. per. with any legal action or stipulation . . . requiring co-signature of Chessman and [counsel].” In these circumstances he cannot complain that he has been prejudiced by the fact that he has not, since his conviction, been allowed to appear personally in court.

We conclude that defendant has shown no tenable ground for being presently allowed to appear before the superior court and that the circumstances of this appeal, including the death of the reporter Perry, do not entitle defendant to a new trial as a matter of right. Defendant’s request that the appeal be dismissed is apparently inadvertent; such action would result in the enforcement of the judgments without affording defendant a review of the merits on appeal on the present or any record.

The trial court’s determination of the objections to, and its certification of, the transcript, do not constitute' an appeal-able order • the purported appeal therefrom is dismissed. It is ordered that the voir dire examination of jurors and the opening statement of the deputy district attorney be transcribed, certified and added to the record before us. Except for the augmentation óf the record as above specified, the motions for an order to the superior court to ‘ ‘ correct and properly certify record, to order a hearing in the Superior Court relative to this matter, and for the Supreme Court to agree to decide on appeal (or otherwise) certain undecided questions of law relative to the preparation of a reporter’s transcript for use on appeal in a capital offense and the applicability of section 953e C.C.P. to criminal cases,” and the ‘‘Motion to dismiss automatic appeal without determination,” are denied.

Gibson, C. J., Shenk, J., Traynor, J., and Spence, J., concurred.