People v. Craig

78 Cal. Rptr. 2d 659, 66 Cal. App. 4th 1444
California Court of Appeal·Decided October 14, 1998·No. A078653·Published·Cited by 34 cases

Opinion

78 Cal.Rptr.2d 659 (1998)
66 Cal.App.4th 1444

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
Mack CRAIG, Jr., Defendant and Appellant.

No. A078653.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division Four.

September 30, 1998.
As Modified October 14, 1998.
Review Denied January 20, 1999.

*661 Georgetta Beck, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, San Francisco, for Defendant and Appellant.

Daniel E. Lungren, Attorney General, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Ronald A. Bass, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Catherine A. Rivlin, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Jeremy Friedlander, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Certified For Partial Publication.[*]

POCHE, Associate Justice.

In this case we must decide whether a criminal defendant who has successfully appealed from a prior conviction may, upon retrial, be sentenced to a greater term for the offense, provided that his aggregate term, which includes time for enhancements, does not exceed that imposed at his initial sentencing.

This appeal is defendant's second. In 1994 defendant was convicted after jury trial of first degree burglary. (Pen.Code, § 459.) He was sentenced to twenty-seven years: the mitigated term of two years for the burglary and five years for each of five prior serious felony convictions (§ 667). We reversed that conviction in 1996 because evidence of his spontaneous utterances at the scene of the crime was improperly excluded.[1]

After retrial before the same judge defendant was found guilty once more of first degree burglary. Although five serious felony priors were again alleged, only three of them were found true at the second trial. Defendant was sentenced to a term of nineteen years: the midterm of four years for the burglary and five years for each of the three prior serious felony convictions.

At the 1994 sentencing hearing, the prosecution stated that the defendant was a "career criminal", and asked the court to invoke the midterm of four years. Instead the judge chose to impose the mitigated term of two years on the burglary, stating that, "the basis for the mitigated range is Mr. Craig did not perjure himself in this trial."

At sentencing in 1997 the prosecution once again pointed out that appellant had a significant criminal record, but this time asked the court to impose the aggravated term of six years. In explaining why he chose to impose the midterm instead of the mitigated term originally imposed the judge stated, "Let the record show that in the first trial, there were five[,] five-year priors. I felt that 29 years would be excessive in relation to the background of this defendant and also in relation to the facts of the case; and that was why I chose the mitigated range of two years, giving Mr. Craig 27 years. [¶] However, in my sentencing of Mr. Craig after the second trial, I found that if I were to give Mr. Craig two years, the mitigated range on the burglary, it would be way too light in relation to the facts of the case, in relation to his background and that was why the court chose the mid term of four years."

On appeal defendant contends it was impermissible under the due process clause of our federal constitution and under the double jeopardy provisions of our state constitution for the trial court at the second sentencing to impose four years for the burglary when at the initial sentencing it had imposed only two years for that offense.

Discussion

As will become clear in our discussion of California's application of its double jeopardy provision set out below the protections afforded by our state constitution are broader than those afforded by the federal constitution. (People v. Monge (1997) 16 Cal.4th 826, 844, 66 Cal.Rptr.2d 853, 941 P.2d 1121.) Moreover, one of the consistent concerns of our state courts in looking at double jeopardy issues in the context of a sentence imposed after a successful appeal has been the related due process concern of whether an increased punishment reflects a vindictive retaliation for defendant's having taken a successful appeal. (North Carolina v. Pearce (1969) 395 U.S. 711, 725-726, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656; People v. Collins (1978) 21 Cal.3d 208, 216, 145 Cal.Rptr. 686, 577 P.2d 1026.) Accordingly our discussion though framed as an issue of double jeopardy subsumes both defendant's double jeopardy and due process claims.

*662 A. Double Jeopardy

Relying upon the double jeopardy provision of our state Constitution (Cal. Const., art. I, § 15),[2] our Supreme Court in 1963 held that a defendant, after pleading guilty to murder, who had successfully overturned his conviction on appeal could not be sentenced to death upon his reconviction of the crime. (People v. Henderson (1963) 60 Cal.2d 482, 495-497, 35 Cal.Rptr. 77, 386 P.2d 677.) Justice Traynor noted the cruel choice a defendant must otherwise make between accepting an erroneous conviction or appealing from it at the risk of incurring greater punishment. (Id. at p. 496, 35 Cal.Rptr. 77, 386 P.2d 677.) Therefore, "[s]ince the state has no interest in preserving erroneous judgments, it has no interest in foreclosing appeals therefrom by imposing unreasonable conditions on the right to appeal." (Id. at p. 497, 35 Cal.Rptr. 77, 386 P.2d 677.)

Subsequently the court cited Henderson in support of its holding that where a judgment for concurrent sentences had been vacated on appeal it was impermissible after retrial to impose consecutive sentences for the same offenses. (People v. All (1967) 66 Cal.2d 277, 281-282, 57 Cal.Rptr. 348, 424 P.2d 932.)

In 1969 Justice Traynor once again authored an opinion in which he applied the rule of Henderson. In People v. Hood (1969) 1 Cal.3d 444, 82 Cal.Rptr. 618, 462 P.2d 370 defendant was found guilty of (count I) assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and (count III) assault with intent to murder the same officer. (At p. 447, 82 Cal.Rptr. 618, 462 P.2d 370.) After reversing the convictions for instructional error the court noted that since the trial court had stayed execution of sentence on count I and ordered defendant to serve the maximum term of 14 years on count III, the maximum term to which he could be sentenced were he to be retried and found guilty of one or both counts was 14 years. (Id. at p. 459, 82 Cal.Rptr. 618, 462 P.2d 370.) In doing so the court expressly found this result was required "[t]o preclude penalizing [defendant] for appealing...." (Ibid.)

In 1978 the court had another occasion to rely upon the principles of double jeopardy in People v. Collins (1978) 21 Cal.3d 208, 145 Cal.Rptr. 686, 577 P.2d 1026.

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People v. Craig, 78 Cal. Rptr. 2d 659, 66 Cal. App. 4th 1444 (Cal. Ct. App. 1998).

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