People v. Troyn

229 Cal. App. 2d 181, 39 Cal. Rptr. 924, 1964 Cal. App. LEXIS 972
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 14, 1964
DocketCrim. 106
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 229 Cal. App. 2d 181 (People v. Troyn) 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. Troyn, 229 Cal. App. 2d 181, 39 Cal. Rptr. 924, 1964 Cal. App. LEXIS 972 (Cal. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinion

CONLEY, P. J.

The defendant, Lewis Jack Troyn, who entered a plea of guilty to contributing to the delinquency of a minor during his trial on a charge of violating section 288a of the Penal Code, now appeals from the order of the superior court admitting him to probation. He was admitted to bail during the pendency of the appeal. The appeal is equivalent to an appeal from a judgment of conviction. (Pen. Code, § 1237, subd. 1; People v. Bugg, 204 Cal. App.2d 811, 814 [22 Cal.Rptr. 896] ; People v. Goldstein, 136 Cal. App.2d 778, 793 [289 P.2d 581].)

First, the defendant contends that the court abused its discretion in not granting him straight probation instead of imposing as conditions that he serve 90 days in the county jail and that he register as a sexual offender.

People v. Osslo, 50 Cal.2d 75, 103 [323 P.2d 397], holds: “The granting of probation is entirely within the sound discretion of the trial court; a defendant has no right to probation; he does have the right, if he feels that the terms of probation are more harsh than the sentence imposed by law, to refuse probation and undergo such sentence. (People v. Frank (1949) 94 Cal.App.2d 740, 741-742 [211 P.2d 350].)”

In People v. Blankenship, 16 Cal.App.2d 606, 609 [61 P.2d 352], it is said: “It must, in the first place, be conceded that the granting or withholding of probation is a matter that rests entirely in the sound discretion of the trial court. (Pen. Code, §1203; People v. Judson, 128 Cal.App. 768, 774 [18 P.2d 379].) In the second place, probation is not a right which is given to a defendant in a criminal proceeding who has either pleaded guilty to the commission of an offense or has been duly convicted thereof. ‘It is an act of grace and clemency granted to a deserving defendant whereby he may *183 escape the extreme rigors of the penalty imposed by law for the offense of which he stands convicted. ’ (People v. Hainline, 219 Cal. 532, 534 [28 P.2d 16]; People v. Payne, 106 Cal.App. 609, 613 [289 P. 909].) The only right which an applicant for probation possesses is that his petition shall receive consideration by the court. He may not demand clemency as a matter of right. (People v. Roach, 139 Cal.App. 384, 387 [33 P.2d 895].)” (See also Pen. Code, §§1203, 1203.1; People v. Frank, 94 Cal.App.2d 740 [211 P.2d 350].)

A judge’s discretion in granting or denying probation is not disturbed on appeal unless there is a clear showing of abuse, which factor is not present here. (People v. Overton, 190 Cal.App.2d 369, 372 [11 Cal.Rptr. 885]; People v. Roberson, 167 Cal.App.2d 542, 545-546 [334 P.2d 578]; People v. IIollis, 176 Cal.App.2d 92, 96 [1 Cal.Rptr. 293].)

The facts set forth in the probation officer’s report are not denied by the defendant. They show ample ground to justify the trial judge in refusing to grant straight probation to this particular defendant. Among the facts set forth in that report are the following:

“In regards [sic\ to the above stated prior record a prior probation officer’s report indicates that in January of 1962, this defendant was arrested on the charge of statutory rape of a 17 year old Visalia girl. A charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor was filed against him, however he was later allowed to enter a plea of guilty to the lesser offense of outraging public decency. In that probation report it is indicated that the defendant admitted he had had several acts of sexual intercourse with this jrnung girl and admitted that he had paid her from $5 to $10 each time.”

Later, the probation officer again refers to the earlier offense of the defendant, saying: “In considering a recommendation in the present matter the writer notes that in February of 1962 Troyn appeared in the Visalia Justice Court on the charge of outraging public decency and was ordered to pay a $315 fine. That offense involved a 17 year old girl and it appears obvious that the paying of that fine did not deter him from his association with young girls. The writer therefore feels that he should be placed on probation for the present offense but that a term of such probation should be that he serve a period of time in custody. It also appears that a term of probation requiring him to register as a sex offender pursuant to section 290 of the Penal Code is also in order.”

The report recommended probation on condition that the defendant serve 90 days in the county jail and that he register *184 as a sex offender. The extremely light treatment afforded the defendant on the earlier criminal occasion did not deter him from later indulging in his illegal sexual habits. The court was fully justified in setting up as conditions of the probation that he serve some time in the county jail, and that he register as a sexual offender.

It is next contended that, although the defendant entered a plea of guilty, he nevertheless could not be held responsible for the crime which he admitted because the original information in the case did not specifically charge him with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. His argument receives some prima facie semblance of merit from the opinion in People v. Kennedy, 133 Cal.App.2d 693 [284 P.2d 898]. There the defendant was charged with violation of section 288a of the Penal Code without reference to the age of the victim, but the jury, following the court’s permissive instruction, brought in a verdict against him for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The First District Court of Appeal, while commenting that the evidence overwhelmingly supported the verdict, reversed the judgment of conviction because the information charged only violation of section 288a of the Penal Code without reference to the age of the complaining witness, and, therefore, proof of a violation of what was then section 702 of the Welfare and Institutions Code was not admissible. The court held that the instruction that the jury could bring in a verdict of guilty of the relatively minor offense was fatally erroneous. The court says on page 694: “Having acquitted the defendant on the only charge made in the information (violation of Pen.

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Bluebook (online)
229 Cal. App. 2d 181, 39 Cal. Rptr. 924, 1964 Cal. App. LEXIS 972, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-troyn-calctapp-1964.