People v. Kirkpatrick

498 P.2d 992, 7 Cal. 3d 480, 102 Cal. Rptr. 744, 1972 Cal. LEXIS 205
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 11, 1972
DocketCrim. 16143
StatusPublished
Cited by43 cases

This text of 498 P.2d 992 (People v. Kirkpatrick) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Kirkpatrick, 498 P.2d 992, 7 Cal. 3d 480, 102 Cal. Rptr. 744, 1972 Cal. LEXIS 205 (Cal. 1972).

Opinions

Opinion

McCOMB, J.

The only issues raised on this appeal are (one)' whether the conviction must be reversed because the pleas of guilty to a charge of burglary in the second degree (Pen. Code, § 459) in action No. A-543205 and to a charge of receiving stolen property (Pen. Code, § 496) in action No. A-581416, were properly received under the standards set forth in Boykin v. Alabama (1969) 395 U.S. 238 [23 L.Ed.2d 274, 89 S.Ct. 1709]; In re Tahl (1969) 1 Cal.3d 122 [81 Cal.Rptr. 577, 460 P.2d 449]; People v. Rizer (1971) 5 Cal.3d 35 [95 Cal.Rptr. 23, 484 P.2d 1367]; and In re Sutherland (1972) 6 Cal.3d 666 [100 Cal.Rptr. 129, 493 P.2d 857]; and (two) whether defendant was deprived of his right to a speedy trial as guaranteed by the state Constitution (art. I, § 13) and by statute (Pen. Code, '■§ 1382).

We conclude that the guilty pleas are invalid because the record does not affirmatively show that defendant was informed of two of the three .constitutional rights he surrendered by virtue of his plea and it does not show that he waived any of these rights. We find no denial of defendant’s right to a speedy trial.

In action No. A-543205 Jerome Kennedy Kirkpatrick was, charged with burglary of a motel on January 7, 1969. In action No. A-581416 defendant was charged with a burglary on August 25, 1968, and with assault with a deadly weapon on that date (Pen. Code, §§ 459, 245). It was the People’s theory that there was a strong common bond between the two burglaries. At the preliminary hearing they presented evidence that one of the objects taken in the 1968 burglary was a credit card which was presented at the motel on January 7, 1969, by defendant’s wife, Nancy Diane Kirkpatrick, when they registered, that Kirkpatrick had then picked [483]*483up the credit card, that at that time he intended to steal from inside the motel room, that shortly thereafter he and his codefendant were apprehended carrying two television sets from the motel and that this credit card was on his person when arrested. The People’s motion for joinder, for trial purposes only (Pen. Code, § 954), was granted over Kirkpatrick’s objections.

Entry of Guilty Pleas

After continuances in each action, they were transferred for trial on June 6, 1969, to Department 74. The court first announced that it understood that there was a desire to make a disposition of these cases in court. The People stated that first there was a motion to amend information No. A-581416 to add a third count charging the crime of receiving stolen property (Pen. Code, § 496). Deputy Public Defender Horne advised that Kirkpatrick waived further reading of the amended complaint, that Kirkpatrick was ready to enter a plea to the amended third count in No. A-581416, and that he was ready to plead to second degree burglary, a lesser included offense than that originally charged in No. A-543205.

Before accepting these pleas, a voir dire hearing was held to ascertain whether Kirkpatrick was entering such pleas freely, voluntarily, and with a full understanding of the consequences of the waiver of a trial. Review of the record fails to reveal an affirmative showing that Kirkpatrick was advised of his constitutional right to confrontation of witnesses and to his privilege against, compulsory self-incrimination or that he waived these rights.

A general showing was made from which it could be inferred that Kirkpatrick was aware of these rights, that he was willing to waive them, and that he intended to waive them at the time he pleaded guilty on June 6, 1969. He stated on voir dire before making his pleas that he was aware of his “constitutional rights”; that he knew that he was entitled to a court trial or to a jury trial and that he waived trial; that he was voluntarily pleading guilty because he was in fact guilty; that he had been informed that charges in a pending third action would be dismissed; and that he had been informed that he would be sentenced in these two actions only on what he was pleading to. Obviously there was a plea bargain.1 This general showing is not sufficient compliance with the “affirmative record” requirements of Tahl-Boykin. These requirements apply even when a showing is made, or as here inferred, that a guilty plea was entered pursuant to a bargain, (In re Sutherland, supra, 6 Cal.3d 666, 669-671.)

[484]*484There is other evidence in the record which would support a reasonable inference that Kirkpatrick was aware of the rights he was surrendering by his entry of guilty pleas. On the day preceding his entry of these pleas he had appeared for probation and sentence hearing before the same judge following a jury trial in. a fourth case; he independently sought discovery of the witnesses and evidence against him in the present cases; in pretrial petitions filed by him personally he alleged deprivation of Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights; and in a pretrial motion in the present actions he was given a copy of the standard printed form entitled Petition to Proceed in Propria Persona (so that the court could entertain his motion to so proceed). This form recites, in legible print in the opening paragraph, the constitutional rights of an accused in a criminal trial and requires the signature of the accused, and the date thereof, to be entered immediately under such recitation as well as at the end of the petition. It was not signed by him in either place.

The only reason stated by him for not signing was that he could not, under penalty of perjury aver, as required by item 11, that deputies of the public defender’s office were able to intelligently and competently handle criminal cases. He did fill out many of the other items. An inference could be drawn that he read and at least as of that time he understood all of its provisions. Considered in context with his many petitions and his intelligent and wary responses and questions in court it could be concluded that he knew in waiving his right to a trial he was waiving not only his right to be tried by a jury but to be free from personally testifying at the trial and incriminating himself and to give up the right to cross-examine the witnesses who might appear against him; also that his decision to voluntarily enter a plea of guilty might have been influenced by his knowledge of the evidence presented against him at the preliminary and the fact that he was not able to obtain witnesses to establish his own defense.

Boykin v. Alabama, supra, 395 U.S. 238, “necessitates a more precise showing on all phases of a guilty plea than mere- inferences however plausibly drawn frcm circumstances on the record” (In re Tahl, supra, 1 Cal.3d at pp. 131-132), and Tahl “makes it clear that its requirements are applicable to guilty pleas accepted after Boykin” (People v. Rizer, supra, 5 Cal.3d 35, 43). These pleas were entered four days after Boykin was filed. The record does not make the affirmative showing required by Boykin-Tahl.

x Right to a Speedy Trial

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Bluebook (online)
498 P.2d 992, 7 Cal. 3d 480, 102 Cal. Rptr. 744, 1972 Cal. LEXIS 205, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-kirkpatrick-cal-1972.