People v. McCutcheon

187 Cal. App. 3d 552, 232 Cal. Rptr. 159, 1986 Cal. App. LEXIS 2273
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 6, 1986
DocketNo. B011856
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 187 Cal. App. 3d 552 (People v. McCutcheon) 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. McCutcheon, 187 Cal. App. 3d 552, 232 Cal. Rptr. 159, 1986 Cal. App. LEXIS 2273 (Cal. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

Opinion

STONE, P. J.

Donald Edward McCutcheon appeals from judgment of conviction by guilty plea and resultant 10-year prison sentence. He contends [555]*555the trial court erred in denying his motion to strike a prior offense and for adding a five-year sentence enhancement (Pen. Code, § 667), for failing to exercise its discretion to strike his prior convictions at sentencing, and for failing to grant sufficient conduct credits. We find no error and affirm the judgment.1

Discussion

I. No Error in Denying Motion to Strike Prior Conviction.

Appellant moved to strike prior offense number two which alleged that, by his plea of nolo contendere entered March 29,1982, he was convicted of burglary of a residence. Penal Code section 667 provides that, “(a) Any person convicted of a serious felony who previously has been convicted of a serious felony in this state . . . shall receive, in addition to the sentence imposed by the court for the present offense, a five-year enhancement for each such prior conviction on charges brought and tried separately. The terms of the present offense and each enhancement shall run consecutively. ”2 Section 667, subdivision (d), incorporates by reference the list of serious felonies in section 1192.7, subdivision (c), which includes burglary of a residence. Section 667, part of the initiative known as Proposition 8, took effect June 8, 1982, after appellant entered his plea and was sentenced on that prior burglary. Until 1983, section 460 defined first degree burglary as “ [ejvery burglary of an inhabited dwelling house. . . in the nighttime. . . .” With few exceptions, all other burglaries were of the second degree. Therefore, until 1983, a second-degree burglary conviction might have, but did not necessarily involve, a residence.

Appellant contends that since his prior second-degree burglary conviction antedates the effective date of the statute, it could not be used as a prior residential burglary within the meaning of section 667. He cites People v. Crowson (1983) 33 Gal.3d 623 [190 Cal.Rptr. 165, 660 P.2d 389] and People v. Jackson (1985) 37 Cal.3d 826 [210 Cal.Rptr. 623, 694 P.2d 736] for the propositions that proof of a prior conviction establishes only minimum elements of the crime and the prosecution may not go behind elements of a conviction to demonstrate facts not an element of the crime.

He contends further that had he known the word “residential” would have resulted in an additional five years of incarceration, he might have opted to go to trial, and might have attempted to have the word deleted as part of [556]*556the plea bargain, or pleaded to a crime other than second degree burglary. Thus, he insists, “of a residence” was superfluous language in March 1982, when he entered his plea. Moreover, he continues, absent express admission in the current proceedings to the residential nature of the prior burglary, neither court nor prosecutor may “look” behind the conviction at items such as the felony information, plea forms, transcript of oral proceedings at time of plea and sentencing, or court minutes.

Is this case controlled by language and reasoning of People v. Jackson, supra, 37 Cal.3d 826, and People v. Alfaro (1986) 42 Cal.3d 627 [230 Cal.Rptr. 129, 724 P.2d 1154], the Supreme Court’s most recent expression on the subject, or is it sufficiently distinguishable factually to support a different conclusion? We believe the trial court correctly found it distinguishable.

People v. Crowson, supra, 33 Cal.3d 623 establishes two principles relevant to proving a prior serious felony conviction under section 667, subdivision (a): “. . . (1) that proof of a prior conviction establishes only the minimum elements of the crime, even if the charging pleading contained additional, superfluous allegations; and (2) that the prosecution cannot go behind the record of the conviction and relitigate the circumstances of the offense to prove some fact which was not an element of the crime. ...” (People v. Jackson, supra, 37 Cal.3d 826, 834.)

The Jackson court, relying on its prior holding in People v. Crowson, supra, 33 Cal.3d 623, stated that a judgment of conviction of second degree burglary establishes only the existence of the elements of that offense, which in 1978 did not necessarily include entry of a residence. (People v. Jackson, supra, 37 Cal.3d at p. 834.)

The California Supreme Court recently adhered to People v. Jackson’s dictum that “‘the prosecution cannot go behind the record of the conviction ... to prove some fact which was not an element of the crime.’” (Jackson, supra, 37 Cal.3d at p. 834; People v. Alfaro, supra, 42 Cal.3d 627, 636.) In People v. Alfaro, supra, the Supreme Court stated that “proof of the prior conviction is limited to matters which fall within the doctrine of collateral estoppel and thus cannot be controverted.” (Id. at p. 634.) The court noted that, in People v. O’Bryan (1985) 37 Cal.3d 841 [210 Cal.Rptr. 450, 694 P.2d 135], it held that residential entry was an element of first degree burglary in 1980, and thus that defendant’s conviction for that crime established his conviction of a prior serious felony. (Alfaro, supra, 42 Cal.3d at p. 634.)

The Supreme Court in Alfaro states that “the ‘record of conviction’ refers to the judgment, and matters necessarily adjudicated therein.” (Id. at [557]*557p. 636.) However, it noted that “Jackson does not strictly limit proof to elements of the crime, but permits proof of any matter which was necessarily adjudicated by the judgment and which defendant had an incentive to contest.” (Ibid., fn. 7; see People v. Jackson, supra, 37 Cal.3d 826, at p. 836, fn. 14.)

Thus, the rationale for the principle that proof of a prior conviction establishes only the minimum elements of the crime and not additional, superfluous allegations is the defendant’s lack of reason or incentive to challenge such immaterial surplusage. (People v. Alfaro, supra, 42 Cal.3d 627; People v. Jackson, supra, 37 Cal.3d at p. 834; People v. Crowson, supra, 33 Cal.3d at p. 634.) However, when pleading nolo contendere, appellant had reason to contest the residential allegation. At the time he changed his plea and admitted the residential allegation, the court was prohibited, absent unusual circumstances, from granting probation to a defendant convicted of felony burglary “of an inhabited dwelling house.” (§ 462, eff. Jan. 1981.) The phrase “inhabited dwelling house” has been construed to mean a place where a person resides even though temporarily unoccupied. (People v. Chavira (1970) 3 Cal.App.3d 988, 992 [83 Cal.Rptr. 851].) “Burglary of a residence” is clearly synonymous with burglary of an inhabited dwelling and has long been so understood. (See e.g., People v. Allard (1929) 99 Cal.App. 591 [279 P. 182]; People v. Rotroff

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Related

People v. McCutcheon
187 Cal. App. 3d 552 (California Court of Appeal, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
187 Cal. App. 3d 552, 232 Cal. Rptr. 159, 1986 Cal. App. LEXIS 2273, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-mccutcheon-calctapp-1986.