People v. Juarez

8 Cal. Rptr. 3d 238, 114 Cal. App. 4th 1095
California Court of Appeal·Decided January 7, 2004·No. A101227, A102470·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

8 Cal.Rptr.3d 238 (2004)
114 Cal.App.4th 1095

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,
v.
Jon Vincent JUAREZ, Defendant and Appellant;
In re Jon Vincent Juarez on Habeas Corpus.

Nos. A101227, A102470.

Court of Appeal, First District, Division Two.

January 7, 2004.

*239 Parker S. Kelly, Redwood City, Robert Faux, Santa Rosa, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General of the State of California, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Stan M. Helfman, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Ayana A. Cuevas, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

LAMBDEN, J.

Appellant appeals from his sentence to a term of probation conditioned upon his waiver of all credits for time served. The trial court's order suspended a maximum sentence to state prison and required appellant to participate in a residential drug treatment program. Appellant contends that the time he may spend incarcerated will exceed the maximum permitted by statute. Appellant's court-appointed counsel has asked us to review the record of the conviction pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436, 158 Cal.Rptr. 839, 600 P.2d 1071, and filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, which we ordered to be considered with the appeal. At our request, both sides filed supplemental briefs regarding the propriety of the sentence ordered by the trial court. We affirm.

INTRODUCTION

This case illustrates an anomaly which persists in the wake of the Supreme Court's opinion in People v. Johnson (2002) 28 Cal.4th 1050, 123 Cal.Rptr.2d 700, 51 P.3d 913 (Johnson II), which discussed the circumstances under which a trial court can require a defendant to waive credits for time served, on top of a maximum sentence, in order to obtain probation. The Supreme Court upheld the discretion of the trial court to impose such a sentence in Johnson II and suggested that a defendant might not have any basis to challenge such a sentence until the maximum statutory sentence is served. The Supreme Court declined to discuss a split of appellate authority over whether trial courts can routinely require waiver of time credits beyond the statutory term in maximum-sentence cases. Arguably, there remains some ambiguity regarding when a defendant can challenge a sentence that is combined with the waiver of time-served credits and thereby exceeds the statutory maximum.

BACKGROUND

Appellant was charged with two counts of entering an inhabited dwelling with intent to commit larceny, in violation of Penal Code section 459 (all further unspecified code sections refer to the Penal Code). He pleaded no contest to a single count of larceny and was sentenced to a term of 24 months probation under standard conditions, including the requirement that he serve six months in the county jail and participate in a residential drug treatment program.

Seven months later, appellant's probation was revoked; and he subsequently admitted that he had violated the terms of his probation. After subjecting appellant to a 90-day diagnostic study pursuant to section 1203.03, the trial court sentenced appellant to the statutory maximum of three years in state prison, and suspended the sentence. The court reinstated appellant's probation with new conditions, including another eight months in the county jail and further residential drug treatment. To obtain this result, appellant was required to waive all credit for the time he had served, and would serve, in the treatment program and in county jail.

*240 At the sentencing hearing, appellant agreed to the terms of this sentence pursuant to People v. Johnson (1978) 82 Cal.App.3d 183, 147 Cal.Rptr. 55 (Johnson I). He thus expressly waived all credits for the time he had previously served in jail and all credits for the time he had spent in the residential treatment program. It is undisputed that the probation department's report calculated his total credit for time served in both venues to have totaled 392 days. At the sentencing hearing, defense counsel objected to the waiver of time-served credits and the court noted the preservation of the issue for appeal. Appellant's notice of appeal and petition for writ of habeas corpus contend that the court committed error by requiring appellant to "waive all previously accrued credits in order to have probation reinstated...."

DISCUSSION

The underlying facts pertaining to appellant's offense are immaterial to our discussion of the claimed sentencing error. Turning first to our examination of the record pursuant to People v. Wende, supra, 25 Cal.3d 436, 158 Cal.Rptr. 839, 600 P.2d 1071, we discern no issues requiring further briefing or discussion, other than those discussed below in connection with the alleged sentencing error. We consider the circumstances where a trial court can require waiver of statutorily mandated time-served credits when the result may be a sentence exceeding the maximum sentence provided by law. We also revisit the issue of whether a trial court is permitted to routinely require the waiver of such credits, without any case specific exercise of discretion.

Appellant first contends that the sentence imposed by the trial court was illegal. At the sentencing hearing, defense counsel objected to the proposed waiver of appellant's previous time credits because it could potentially expose appellant to a total term in excess of the three-year maximum term provided for the offense. Counsel cited the opinion in People v. Tran (2000) 78 Cal.App.4th 383, 92 Cal.Rptr.2d 815 (Tran) in support of this argument; but the court seemed unfamiliar with the case. However, in response to the court's suggestion that the sentencing could be continued for briefing of the issue, defense counsel responded that his client wished only to preserve the objection and to proceed with sentencing. In response to questioning by the court, appellant agreed to give up 392 days of time-served credit by entering a "Johnson waiver" (Johnson I, supra, 82 Cal.App.3d 183, 147 Cal.Rptr. 55). The "Johnson waiver" was explained to appellant to be his agreement that he would be willing to spend more than a year in county jail.

Tran distinguished a similar waiver of custody credits from prior authority permitting such waivers in a variety of circumstances. (See Johnson I, supra, 82 Cal.App.3d 183, 147 Cal.Rptr. 55; People v. Ambrose (1992) 7 Cal.App.4th 1917, 9 Cal.Rptr.2d 812 (Ambrose); People v. Salazar (1994) 29 Cal.App.4th 1550, 35 Cal.Rptr.2d 221; and People v. Burks (1998) 66 Cal.App.4th 232, 77 Cal.Rptr.2d 698.) The record in Tran did not contain evidence that the required waiver would have any effect on the appellant's attitude towards the completion of the residential treatment program contemplated by the sentence. The Tran opinion concluded that it was unlikely that any remand for reconsideration of the sentence of probation could result in the development of further facts; and, out of concern that the defendant could be effectively penalized for his appeal if probation were reconsidered, the trial court was ordered to remove *241 the condition requiring waiver of custody credits.

In its 2002 opinion (in Johnson II, supra, 28 Cal.4

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People v. Juarez, 8 Cal. Rptr. 3d 238, 114 Cal. App. 4th 1095 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004).

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