People v. Green

89 Cal. Rptr. 2d 613, 75 Cal. App. 4th 1002
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 16, 2000
DocketF029122
StatusPublished

This text of 89 Cal. Rptr. 2d 613 (People v. Green) 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. Green, 89 Cal. Rptr. 2d 613, 75 Cal. App. 4th 1002 (Cal. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

89 Cal.Rptr.2d 613 (2000)
75 Cal.App.4th 1002

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
Donald J. GREEN, Defendant and Appellant.

No. F029122.

Court of Appeal, Fifth District.

October 21, 1999.
Review Granted February 16, 2000.

Catherine Aragon, Tempe, AZ, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Daniel E. Lungren, Attorney General, George H. Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Assistant Attorney General, Margaret Venturi and Susan J. Orton, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

OPINION

DIBIASO, Acting P.J.

The trial court denied appellant's motion to strike his prior Texas murder conviction. Applying People v. Allen (1999) 21 Cal.4th 424, 87 Cal.Rptr.2d 682, 981 P.2d 525, we hold a defendant may not challenge a prior out of state conviction on Boykin/Tahl[1] grounds in the absence of evidence that the convicting jurisdiction required Tahl-like procedural formalities.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

On April 29, 1996, appellant Donald J. Green was charged by information filed in Stanislaus County Superior Court with a violation of Vehicle Code section 20001 (failure to stop at the scene of an accident resulting in injury or death). The information further alleged pursuant to Penal Code section 12022.7 that, during the commission of the offense, appellant inflicted great bodily injury. In addition, the information alleged appellant had suffered a 1978 serious felony conviction for murder in the state of Texas, within the meaning of section 667, subdivision (d) and section 1192.7, subdivision (c).

*614 On June 21, 1996, appellant's motion to strike the great bodily injury allegation was granted. On May 2, 1997, appellant's motion to strike the prior felony conviction on the ground it was obtained in violation of Boykin/Tahl was heard and denied. Thereafter, appellant admitted the prior conviction allegation and the matter proceeded to jury trial on the charged offense. The jury returned with its verdict of guilty on May 9, 1997. Appellant was sentenced on July 24, 1997, to a total term of four years (the midterm doubled) in state prison.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

Charged Offense:

The facts of the charged offense are not at issue on appeal. In brief, on February 25, 1996, appellant, while driving his truck in Riverbank, California, struck a 75-year-old pedestrian. The pedestrian later died from his injuries. Appellant failed to stop, although he heard a "thump." According to witnesses, appellant drove into a nearby minimart and through an alley back to the scene, paused briefly while others attended to the victim, and then drove off. Appellant claimed he returned to the scene after hearing the "thump" in an attempt to see if he had hit someone, but saw nothing.

Prior Conviction:

In 1978, when appellant was 17 years old, he entered a plea of guilty to the murder of Larry Walker. Walker was stabbed to death during a gathering in a trailer house. Appellant and Walker had been socializing with friends and both had been drinking. Earlier, the two had exchanged "words." Appellant was very angry with, Walker, although the reason is not disclosed in the record. Walker was extremely intoxicated, to the point where he could not defend himself, when he was killed. There were several eyewitnesses to the murder. Appellant left the scene and was picked up by law enforcement shortly thereafter. He had blood all over him and carried a buck knife, which later proved to be the murder weapon.

Appellant was represented in the Texas proceeding by counsel who, in a declaration filed in this case by the People in response to the motion to strike, stated that appellant had been advised of his constitutional rights. Appellant entered a plea of guilty and then, according to Texas procedure, the case was submitted to the jury for the purpose of imposing a penalty. The jury heard the testimony of the witnesses and other evidence before settling on a term of 60 years. The reporter's transcript of the plea proceeding does not show that the Texas trial court obtained on the record knowing and intelligent waivers from appellant of the constitutional rights enumerated and required in California by In re Tahl, supra, 1 Cal.3d 122, 81 Cal. Rptr. 577, 460 P.2d 449.

DISCUSSION

Appellant raises a single challenge to his conviction. He claims the motion to strike the prior conviction should have been granted because the Texas conviction is constitutionally infirm. Respondent argues this issue is not cognizable on appeal because a defendant may not collaterally attack a prior conviction used as a sentence enhancement. Respondent contends People v. Sumstine (1984) 36 Cal.3d 909, 206 Cal.Rptr. 707, 687 P.2d 904 (Sumstine) which allowed such attacks on prior convictions, is no longer viable given recent decisions by both the California Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court. During the pendency of this action the California Supreme Court decided the issue in People v. Allen, supra, 21 Cal.4th 424, 87 Cal.Rptr.2d 682, 981 P.2d 525.

A brief background is helpful. In Boykin v. Alabama, supra, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (Boykin), the United States Supreme Court determined that a defendant who pled guilty could attack his conviction on the ground the record did not affirmatively establish a *615 knowing and intelligent waiver of certain constitutional rights—the right to a jury trial, the right to confront witnesses, and the privilege against self-incrimination. (Id. at pp. 243-244, 89 S.Ct. 1709.) Just months later, the California Supreme Court addressed the same issue in In re Tahl, supra, 1 Cal.3d 122, 81 Cal.Rptr. 577, 460 P.2d 449 (Tahl). Again, the defendant alleged his guilty plea was not made voluntarily or with a complete understanding of its consequences. The Tahl court, bound by Boykin, set forth the additional requirement that the record clearly state that the defendant specifically and expressly waived each of the three enumerated constitutional rights. (Id. at p. 132, 81 Cal.Rptr. 577, 460 P.2d 449.)

In Sumstine, supra, 36 Cal.3d 909, 206 Cal.Rptr. 707, 687 P.2d 904, the California Supreme Court considered whether a defendant, whose sentence was subject to enhancement by a prior conviction, was permitted to attack collaterally the validity of that conviction on Boykin/Tahl grounds. The court answered affirmatively, deciding that a defendant could challenge a prior conviction on any constitutional ground, including a Boykin/Tahl violation.

"When a defendant has made allegations sufficient to justify a hearing, the court must conduct an evidentiary hearing in the fashion set forth in [People v.] Coffey [(1967) 67 Cal.2d 204, 60 Cal.Rptr. 457, 430 P.2d 15 (Coffey

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Related

Johnson v. Zerbst
304 U.S. 458 (Supreme Court, 1938)
Gideon v. Wainwright
372 U.S. 335 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Burgett v. Texas
389 U.S. 109 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Boykin v. Alabama
395 U.S. 238 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Custis v. United States
511 U.S. 485 (Supreme Court, 1994)
In Re Tahl
460 P.2d 449 (California Supreme Court, 1969)
Garcia v. Superior Court
928 P.2d 572 (California Supreme Court, 1997)
People v. Howard
824 P.2d 1315 (California Supreme Court, 1992)
People v. Sumstine
687 P.2d 904 (California Supreme Court, 1984)
Curl v. Superior Court
801 P.2d 292 (California Supreme Court, 1990)
People v. Coffey
430 P.2d 15 (California Supreme Court, 1967)
People v. Allen
981 P.2d 525 (California Supreme Court, 1999)
Gideon v. Wainwright
372 U.S. 335 (Supreme Court, 1963)

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Bluebook (online)
89 Cal. Rptr. 2d 613, 75 Cal. App. 4th 1002, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-green-calctapp-2000.