People v. Eberhardt

186 Cal. App. 3d 1112, 231 Cal. Rptr. 387
California Court of Appeal·Decided October 31, 1986·No. G000674·Published·Cited by 33 cases

Opinion

186 Cal.App.3d 1112 (1986)
231 Cal. Rptr. 387

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Appellant,
v.
JOE GARLAND EBERHARDT et al., Defendants and Respondents.

Docket No. G000674.

Court of Appeals of California, Fourth District, Division Three.

October 31, 1986.

*1114 COUNSEL

Cecil Hicks, District Attorney, Michael R. Capizzi, Assistant District Attorney, and William W. Bedsworth, Deputy District Attorney, for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Christopher J. Hennes, Howard Goodman and Quin Denvir and Frank O. Bell, Jr., State Public Defenders, under appointments by the Court of Appeal, Jonathan B. Steiner, Chief Assistant State Public Defender, and F. Elaine Easley, Deputy State Public Defender, for Defendants and Respondents.

OPINION

SONENSHINE, J.

On February 28, 1985, we filed our earlier opinion in this matter. The California Supreme Court granted a petition for hearing on May 2, 1985, and on June 26, 1986, retransferred the matter to us for reconsideration in light of People v. Fritz (1985) 40 Cal.3d 227 [219 Cal. Rptr. 460, 707 P.2d 833].[1]

The People ask us to consider whether a trial court may suspend imposition *1115 of sentence on prior felony enhancements. (Pen. Code, §§ 667, 667.5.)[2] In addition they complain probation reports were not obtained before the defendants were sentenced.

Defendants Joe Garland Eberhardt, Christine Marie Hill and Richard Arganda Loya were charged with several felonies and firearm enhancement allegations.[3] Each was also alleged to have been previously convicted of one or more felonies resulting in a term of imprisonment.[4] At arraignment in superior court each defendant pleaded guilty as charged, admitted all the firearm enhancement and prior felony allegations and was sentenced.

Eberhardt was sentenced to seven years in prison: three years (the mid term) on count I with two additional years for the firearm use enhancement (§ 12022.5); one year each (one-third the midterm) to be served consecutively on count II and count IV for a total of seven years. The judge then indicated, "All other enhancements alleged and all priors alleged plus the balance of the counts are stayed...."

The court sentenced Hill as follows: three years (the mid term) on count I with an additional year for a firearm enhancement (§ 12022, subd. (a))[5] for a total of four years in state prison. Again the court said, "Sentence on the priors alleged as well as the balance of the counts is stayed...."

Finally, Loya was sentenced as follows: three years (the midterm) on count II with an additional year for a firearm enhancement (§ 12022, subd. (a)), for a total of four years in state prison. And again the judge declared, "Sentence on the priors, any other enhancements and the balance of the counts is stayed, stay to become permanent upon completion of the four *1116 years just imposed."[6] The People appeal, complaining probation reports were not obtained and the court failed to impose consecutive sentence enhancements for the prior convictions.

I

It is true the trial court did not order probation reports for any of the defendants. The People argue probation reports were mandated by section 1203, subdivision (b),[7] because the defendants were statutorily eligible for probation. Eberhardt and Loya counter that, for various reasons,[8] they were not eligible for probation and the referral to the probation officer was discretionary by virtue of section 1203, subdivision (g).[9] They contend no abuse of discretion has been shown. Hill argues, relying on a series of amendments to section 1203, a probation report is mandatory only where a defendant has made an application for probation. She made no such application.

(1) We need not, and indeed cannot, resolve this dispute. Assuming the trial court erred when it failed to order probation reports, the People nonetheless have no remedy by way of appeal. "`The Legislature has determined that except under certain limited circumstances the People shall have no right of appeal in criminal cases.' [Citation.] Those circumstances are enumerated *1117 in section 1238." (People v. Drake (1977) 19 Cal.3d 749, 754 [139 Cal. Rptr. 720, 566 P.2d 622].)[10]

We find nothing in section 1238 which even arguably permits an appeal by the People from a trial court's failure to order a probation report. Our Supreme Court has admonished "if the order is not appealable under accepted rules concerning appealability, we should not by fiat announce that it is appealable merely because it is egregiously erroneous." (People v. Valenti (1957) 49 Cal.2d 199, 204 [316 P.2d 233], italics added, disapproved on other grounds in People v. Sidener (1962) 58 Cal.2d 645, 647 [25 Cal. Rptr. 697, 375 P.2d 641], in turn overruled on other grounds in People v. Tenorio (1970) 3 Cal.3d 89 [89 Cal. Rptr. 249, 473 P.2d 993].) We are not deciding the trial court's omission was "egregiously erroneous." The passage from Valenti simply underscores the fact the presence of error does not compel appealability where none exists.

Valenti's reference to an appeal from an order is not without significance. (2) Even if some later act of the trial court is appealable, this does not permit the People to reach back and request review of a prior nonappealable order. (See People v. Glaser (1965) 238 Cal. App.2d 819, 821 [48 Cal. Rptr. 427].) The prosecution argues "pendant jurisdiction" permits review on this issue because the sentences are appealable. The argument is unconvincing and made without citation to authority. To so hold would destroy the statutory scheme embodied in section 1238. "[T]he Legislature has struck a delicate balance in `choosing with some precision the situations' in which the People may appeal; therefore, the courts should not stretch the statutory language of Penal Code section 1238 to include situations beyond the statute's manifest meaning. [Citation.]" (People v. Mendevil *1118 (1978) 81 Cal. App.3d 84, 87, fn. omitted [146 Cal. Rptr. 65].) The trial court's failure to order probation reports is not properly before this court for review.

II

Whether the sentences are appealable presents a more complex question. The People assert an appeal properly lies pursuant to section 1238, subdivisions (a)(5) and (a)(6).

(3) Where a court imposes sentence but stays its execution pursuant to section 654,[11] an appeal lies from the stay as an "order made after judgment" under section 1238, subdivision (a)(5). (People v. Mendevil, supra, 81 Cal. App.3d 84, 87-88; see also People v. Perez (1979) 23 Cal.3d 545, 549, fn. 2 [153 Cal. Rptr. 40, 591 P.2d 63]; People v. Holly (1976) 62 Cal. App.3d 797, 801-802 [133 Cal. Rptr. 331].) But here the court did not impose sentence and stay execution; it stayed imposition of sentence. Since the sentence is

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