People v. Cruz

244 Cal. App. 2d 137
California Court of Appeal·Decided August 9, 1966·No. Crim. 11435·Published·Cited by 16 cases

Opinions

KINGSLEY, J.

Defendant was charged with a violation of section 11500.5 of the Health and Safety Code (possession of heroin for sale) ; two prior felony convictions, both for burglary, were alleged. After a motion under section 995 of the Penal Code had been made and denied, defendant pled not guilty and denied the priors. Trial by jury was duly waived and the case was submitted on the transcript of the preliminary examination, supplemented by additional testimony on the part of the People and by a stipulation (hereinafter discussed) that defendant be deemed to have testified in a certain manner. The court found defendant guilty of the offense charged and ordered a probation report. Thereafter, pursuant to what was then section 6451 of the Penal Code,1 the criminal proceeding was suspended and proceedings under the Narcotic Rehabilitation Law were instituted and defendant was committed to the Narcotic Rehabilitation Center. Thereafter he was returned to court by the authorities of that institution, purportedly acting under the provisions of section 6453 of the Penal Code,2 on two grounds: (1) that defendant was on parole for one of the burglary offenses; and (2) that his past history indicated that he was a serious security problem and that his attitudes in narcotic treatment programs conducted in the prison and parole systems had shown him to be uncooperative. The criminal proceedings were resumed, and the trial court, having before it not only the formal order of the Director of Corrections returning defendant to it but a copy of the evaluation report on which that order was based, made a formal finding as follows: “The Defendant having been returned by the California Rehabilitation Center as not a fit subject for their program, the Court makes a finding that this was not an abuse of discretion on the part of that Institution in view of the evidence before the court. ’ ’

The court then found the two priors to be true as alleged, probation was denied3 and a state prison sentence was [140]*140imposed, to run concurrent with “any other sentence he may he serving.” Defendant has appealed.4

On this appeal, defendant urges the following contentions: (1) that evidence introduced against him was obtained by the use of a search warrant invalid on its face; (2) that the stipulation as to testimony by defendant, above referred to, was improper because it amounted to a plea of guilty made without the consent or approval of defendant; (3) that defendant has been subjected to double jeopardy by reason of the present sentence entered after the earlier commitment to the Rehabilitation Center; (4) that submission of the case on the preliminary transcript amounted to a denial of due process of law; and (5) that there are inconsistencies in the evidence not satisfactorily explained.

I

The last three of these contentions can be disposed of briefly.

The alleged inconsistencies consist of the fact that, while it was undisputed that both defendant and his companion were properly warned of their constitutional rights to remain silent and to consult counsel, there was divergent testimony as to which officer gave the warnings. Such inconsistencies go only to the weight of the evidence, are for the trial court, and its determination, implicit in its ultimate decision, is binding here.

In support of the fourth contention, counsel relies on the opinion of a federal district court in Gray v. Wilson (N.D. Cal. 1964) 230 F.Supp. 860. But, subsequent to the filing of appellant’s brief, that decision was expressly overruled by the court of appeals (Wilson v. Gray (9th Cir. 1965) 345 F.2d 282 and certiorari was denied (382 U.S. 919 [86 S.Ct. 288, 15 L.Ed.2d 234]). We conclude that the constitutional validity of a submission in whole or in part on the transcript of a preliminary examination is now settled.

The contention that the nonpunitive commitment for treatment under the Narcotic Rehabilitation Act violates the prohibition against double jeopardy where a defendant is thereafter discharged from that program and sentenced to prison has been rejected, for reasons which we need not repeat here. [141]*141(People v. Reynoso (1966) 64 Cal.2d 432 [50 Cal.Rptr. 468, 412 P.2d 812].)

II

At the trial, defendant’s principal effort was an attack on the admissibility of evidence against him which had been procured under circumstances hereinafter considered. The trial court rejected the contentions of invalidity of a search warrant and connected issues of unlawful search and seizure. Defense counsel then tendered a stipulation, which was accepted, concerning testimony by defendant. The record shows the following in that connection: “Mb. Arthur: Your Honor, at this time the defendant would offer the following stipulation, that if the defendant were called to testify and did testif3'-, that he, one, would deny that any contraband at the apartment at which he was living at that time was going to be used for sale, other than a slight amount or amounts for his own use; Secondly, the defendant has offered to stipulate that he was a user of narcotics at that time, and was using the amount that he told Officer Leeds, as related to this Court by Officer Leeds; Thirdly, that he was occupying that particular apartment with another person, a female, and that to his knowledge she was also a user of narcotics at that time. Mr. Boon: I am willing to stipulate to the substance of what counsel has said, your Honor. I feel that the way he has worded his offered stipulation has the same defect that it had yesterday. He said, ‘if the defendant was called, he would testify so. ’

“The Court : Maybe he added this other ‘and did testify ’ in the stipulation, did you not,— Mr. Arthur : Yes. The Court : You are offering to stipulate that the defendant has been called, sworn, and so testified; is that your stipulation? Mr. Arthur: Yes, it is, your Honor. Mr. Boon: I will join in the stipulation. The Court : And that, if I understood the stipulation correctly, that not any of the contraband was going to be used for sale other than a slight amount for his own use ? ’ ’

Defendant’s counsel in this court relies on People v. Rogers (1961) 56 Cal.2d 301 [14 Cal.Rptr. 660, 363 P.2d 892], and urges that this stipulation amounted to a plea of guilty entered by counsel and not by defendant personally. But in Rogers, the stipulation was that the trial court was not to consider either a finding of first degree murder or a finding of not guilty, but was to restrict its deliberation to a choice between murder in the second degree and manslaughter. Clearly, that stipulation amounted to a plea of guilty to one of [142]*142the two lesser degrees of homicide and, as such, required the clear personal concurrence of the defendant. But here the stipulation went no further than to admit, on behalf of defendant, certain facts. Whether or not those facts, taken together with other evidence, would support a finding of the offense charged, or of some lesser offense, or of no offense at all, remained a matter for argument and for the exercise of judicial determination.

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People v. Cruz, 244 Cal. App. 2d 137 (Cal. Ct. App. 1966).

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People v. Cruz
244 Cal. App. 2d 137 (California Court of Appeal, 1966)