People v. Martinez

223 Cal. Rptr. 3d 417, 15 Cal. App. 5th 659, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 816
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 5th District
DecidedSeptember 22, 2017
DocketG052640
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 223 Cal. Rptr. 3d 417 (People v. Martinez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal, 5th District primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Martinez, 223 Cal. Rptr. 3d 417, 15 Cal. App. 5th 659, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 816 (Cal. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

O'LEARY, P.J.

*661Julio David Martinez III, was convicted of possessing and transporting a controlled substance. ( Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11378, *41911379.)1 In addition to three years of supervised probation, the trial court ordered Martinez to pay two mandatory fees-a $50 crime-lab fee (§ 11372.5) and a $150 drug program fee (§ 11372.7). The court concluded both these "fees" were actually "fines" subject to additional assessments, penalties, and a surcharge (collectively referred to as penalty assessments). ( People v. Sharret (2011) 191 Cal.App.4th 859, 863, 120 Cal.Rptr.3d 195 ( Sharret ) [lists examples of *662penalty assessments].) On appeal, Martinez maintains statutory fees were not penal in nature and, therefore, not subject to penalty assessments.2

There is a split of authority in the appellate courts on this issue. (See People v. Webb (2017) 13 Cal.App.5th 486, 496, 498-499, 220 Cal.Rptr.3d 679 ( Webb ) [penalty not permitted for § 11372.5 and § 11372.7 fees]; Watts, supra , 2 Cal.App.5th at p. 234, 206 Cal.Rptr.3d 202 [penalty not permitted for § 11372.5]; People v. Martinez (1998) 65 Cal.App.4th 1511, 1520-1522, 77 Cal.Rptr.2d 492 ( Martinez ) [penalty required for § 11372.5]; People v. Sierra (1995) 37 Cal.App.4th 1690, 1695, 44 Cal.Rptr.2d 575 ( Sierra ) [penalty required for § 11372.7].) Almost all California appellate districts, except this court, have weighed in on the topic (albeit in unpublished opinions). As noted by the Webb court, the conflict will likely require resolution by our Supreme Court and, in the meantime, we agree with the reasoning of Watts and Webb . Accordingly, we remand for recalculation of the criminal laboratory analysis and drug program fees on each count without the addition of penalty assessments. The judgment is affirmed in all other respects.

FACTS

We need not provide a detailed summary of the underlying facts because Martinez does not dispute the sufficiency of the evidence to support his convictions for possessing and transporting a controlled substance.

What is relevant to the issues raised on appeal is that the trial court suspended imposition of Martinez's sentence and placed him on probation. At the sentencing hearing, the court orally imposed a single $50 crime-lab fee (§ 11372.5) and a single $150 drug program fee (§ 11372.7). It did not mention imposing a fee for each drug conviction, however, the minute order and probation terms and conditions form (Probation Form) reflected these fees would be imposed for each conviction and indicated all fees were subject to penalty assessments.

DISCUSSION

Martinez claims the penalty assessments added to the $50 crime-lab fee (§ 11372.5) and the $150 drug program fee (§ 11372.7) were unauthorized. He is correct.

*663The Watts court observed the categories of monetary charges a trial court may impose on a criminal defendant "are ill-defined." ( Watts, supra, 2 Cal.App.5th at p. 227, 206 Cal.Rptr.3d 202.) "As one justice aptly observed in 2009, the Legislature has created an 'increasingly complex system of fines, fees, and penalties,' leaving it *420'doubtful that criminal trial lawyers and trial court judges have the ability to keep track of the myriad [ ] charges that now attach to criminal convictions.' [Citation.] This justice correctly predicted that '[t]he system, as it exists, is likely to only become more complicated in the immediate future.' [Citations.] Making sense of the system is particularly difficult because the Legislature has described criminal monetary charges with a variety of terms, such as fine, fee, assessment, increment, and penalty, while sometimes assigning different meanings to the same term." ( Id. at pp. 227-228, 206 Cal.Rptr.3d 202.)

The court in Watts determined there were three categories of money charges. First, there are charges "often referred to as base fines" designed to "punish the defendant for the crime." ( Watts, supra, 2 Cal.App.5th at p. 228, 206 Cal.Rptr.3d 202.) "Trial courts often have discretion over whether and in what amount to impose base fines." ( Ibid. )

Second, there are charges, usually referred to as "fees" imposed to "cover a particular governmental program or administrative cost." ( Watts, supra, 2 Cal.App.5th at p. 228, 206 Cal.Rptr.3d 202.) "[A]s with base fines, trial courts often have discretion over whether to impose them." ( Ibid. )

Third, there are "penalty assessments, which, when applicable, inflate the total sum imposed on the defendant by increasing certain charges by percentage increments. All current penalty assessments are legislatively expressed as a certain dollar amount 'for every ten dollars ($10), or part of ($10),' for the particular fine, penalty, or forfeiture that is subject to the assessments. ( Pen. Code, § 1464, subd. (a)(1).)" ( Watts, supra, 2 Cal.App.5th at p. 228, 206 Cal.Rptr.3d 202.) "Although these 'parasitic' assessments punish a defendant in the sense that they increase the total monetary charge imposed, they were created in large part to generate revenue and are deposited into various state and county funds. [Citations.]" (

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
223 Cal. Rptr. 3d 417, 15 Cal. App. 5th 659, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 816, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-martinez-calctapp5d-2017.