THE PEOPLE, Plаintiff and Respondent, v. VAUGHN RAY BRADFORD, Defendant and Appellant.
Crim. No. 12788
Third Dist.
Sept. 28, 1984.
160 Cal. App. 3d 532
[Opinion certified for partial publication.*]
Nathan L. Kaufman, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, and Vaughn Ray Bradford, in pro. per., for Defendant and Appellant.
John K. Van de Kamp, Attorney General, James T. McNally and Ruth M. Saavedra, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
OPINION
SIMS, J.—A jury convicted defendant of first degree murder (
We conclude defendant had not been previously convicted of a “serious felony” as a matter of law. We therefore set aside the jury‘s “serious felony” finding and order the five-year enhаncement term stricken. In all other respects, we affirm the judgment.
FACTS RELATED TO THE CURRENT OFFENSE2
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DISCUSSION
II
As noted, defendant was convicted by the jury of first degree murder (
Before the trial of the serious felony allegation, the court conducted a hearing outside the presence оf the jury. The court took judicial notice of portions of its “file” of the action that resulted in the prior conviction. The court noted that in 1976 defendant was charged with assault with a deadly weapon (
The prosecution then called the victim of the 1976 conviction as a witness. He testified defendant shot him in the stomach with a revolver in March 1976. The prosecution also introduced a “change of plea” form, a “judgment of commitment,” and prison records showing defendant‘s photograph and fingerprints. The court took judicial notice (and so instructed the jury) that a person with the same name as the victim had testified at the preliminary hearing in the 1976 case.
We conclude that, with respect to prior convictions аrising out of crimes committed before the effective date of Proposition 8, subdivision (c)(23) of
Next, subdivision (a) of
As noted,
It is evident, however, that the laundry list of
We think not. Rather, we believe there is an irresistible explanation for most of the matters on the “serious felony” laundry list that were not crimes as of enactmеnt of Proposition 8: the list of serious felonies set forth in subdivision (c) of
As is readily apparent from a perusal of the appendix, post, subdivision (c) of
The ostensible purpose of
for life.
“(22) Any felony in which the defendant personally used a dangerous or deadly weapon.
“(23) Escape from a state prison by use of force or violence.
“(24) Assault with a deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury.
“(25) Any attempt to commit a crime listed in this subdivision other than an assault.
“(26) Any offense enumerated in Section 12001.6.
“(c) Any person previously convicted of any of the offenses listed in subdivision (b) which conviction results from certification by the juvenile court for prosecution as an adult in adult court under the provisions of Section 707 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, who owns or has in his possession or under his custody or control any pistol, revolver, or other firearm capable of being concealed upon the person is guilty of a public offense, and shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for at least six months and not exceeding one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison. If probation is granted, or if the imposition or execution of sentence is suspended, it shall be a condition of the probation or suspension that the defendant serve at lеast six months in a county jail.
“(d) The court shall apply the minimum sentence as specified in subdivisions (a) and (c) except in unusual cases where the interests of justice would best be served by granting probation or suspending the imposition or execution of sentence without the imprisonment required by subdivisions (a) and (c), or by granting probation or suspending the imposition or execution of sentence with conditions other than those set forth in subdivisions (a) and (c), in which case the court shall specify on the record and shall enter on the minutes the circumstances indiсating that the interests of justice would best be served by such a disposition.”
In the context of subdivision (b) of
We find it untenable that the drafters of the “serious felony” provisions of proposition 8 made a conscious decision to depart from the coherent statutory construct reflected in
In sum, we conclude the linguistic change made in subdivision (b)(8) of
We believe a contrary result would, as a practical matter, unleash unproductive chaos in the trial courts. Under a facial application of
While this interpretation leaves
Ordinary rules of statutory construction apply to statutes enacted by initiative. (See Carlos v. Superior Court (1983) 35 Cal.3d 131, 145-147 [197 Cal.Rptr. 79, 672 P.2d 862].) The defendant is entitled to the benеfit of every reasonable doubt in the construction of a penal statute imposing increased penalties for past
We next examine subdivision (c)(23) of
Subdivision (c)(23) of
Our conclusion makes sense under all the applicable statutes. A felony conviction accompanied by the statutory enhancement has “elements” that we could compare with out-of-state felonies and enhancements to satisfy
The
We recognize that the language of
It does not follow, however, that our conclusion is nonsensical.
It is an established canon of statutory construction that where statutory language is used in the same or similar context, an omission of crucial language must be given significance. (People v. Valentine (1946) 28 Cal.2d 121, 142 [169 P.2d 1]; People v. Salazar (1983) 144 Cal.App.3d 799, 807 [193 Cal.Rptr. 1]; see People v. Dillon (1983) 34 Cal.3d 441, 467 [194 Cal.Rptr. 390, 668 P.2d 697].)
We believe a reasоnable conclusion is that a conviction for violation of subdivision (a)(1)12 of
We also note that a conviction for assault with a deadly weapon, in and of itself, does not fit the statutory criteria set out in subdivision (c)(23) of
Because defendant had not suffered an enhancement under
III*
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DISPOSITION
The jury‘s finding the defendant suffered a prior conviction as alleged is vacated and the five-year term imрosed for the enhancement is stricken. In all other respects, the judgment of conviction is affirmed. The trial court is directed to prepare a new abstract of judgment in conformity with this opinion and to furnish a certified copy thereof to the Department of Corrections.
Blease, J., concurred.
PUGLIA, P. J.—I concur in the result.
Paragraph (c), subdivision (23) of
*See footnote 2, ante, page 534.
The petitions of both parties for a hearing by the Suprеme Court were denied January 17, 1985. Lucas, J., was of the opinion that the hearing should be granted.
Notes
“(b) This section shall not be applied when the punishment imposed under other provisions of law would result in a longer term of imprisonment. There is no requirement of prior incarceration or commitment for this section to apply.
“(c) The Legislature may increase the length of the enhancement of sentence provided in this section by a statute passed by majority vote of each house thereof.
“(d) As used in this section ‘serious felony’ means a serious felony listed in subdivision (c) of Section 1192.7.
“(e) The provisions of this section shall not be amended by the Legislature except by statute passed in each house by rollcall vote entered in the journal, two-thirds of the membership concurring, or by a statute that becomes effective only when approved by the eleсtors.”
“(b) As used in this section ‘plea bargaining’ means any bargaining, negotiation, or discussion between a criminal defendant, or his or her counsel, and a prosecuting attorney or judge, whereby the defendant agrees to plead guilty or nolo contendere, in exchange for any promises, commitments, concessions, assurances, or consideration by the prosecuting attorney or judge relating to any charge against the defendant or to the sentencing of the defendant.
“(c) As used in this section ‘serious felony’ means any of the following: (1) Murder or voluntary manslaughter; (2) mayhem; (3) rape; (4) sodomy by force, violencе, duress, menace, or threat of great bodily harm; (5) oral copulation by force, violence, duress, menace, or threat of great bodily harm; (6) lewd acts on a child under the age of 14 years; (7) any felony punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison for life; (8) any other felony in which the defendant inflicts great bodily injury on any person, other than an accomplice, or any felony in which the defendant uses a firearm; (9) attempted murder; (10) assault with intent to commit rape or robbery; (11) assault with deadly weapon or instrument on a peace officer; (12) assault by a life prisoner on a noninmate; (13) assault with a deadly weapon by an inmate; (14) arson; (15) exploding a destructive device or any explosive with intent to injure; (16) exploding a destructive device or any explosive causing great bodily injury; (17) exploding a destructive device or any explosive with intent to murder; (18) burglary of a residence; (19) robbery; (20) kidnapping; (21) taking of a hostage by an inmate of a state prison; (22) attempt to commit a felony punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison for life; (23) any felony in which the defendant personally used a dangerous or deadly weapon; (24) selling, furnishing, administering or providing heroin, cocaine or phencyclidine (PCP) to a minor; (25) any attempt to commit a crime listed in this subdivision other than an assault.
“(d) The provisions of this section shall not be amended by the Legislature except by statute passed in each house by rollcall vote entered in the journal, two-thirds of the membership concurring, or by a statute that becomes effective only when approved by the electors.”
“(b) As used in this section, a violent offense includes any of the following: (1) Murder or voluntary manslaughter.
“(2) Mayhem.
“(3) Rape.
“(4) Sodomy by force, violence, duress, menace, or threat of great bodily harm.
“(5) Oral copulation by force, violence, duress, menace, or threat of great bodily harm.
“(6) Lewd acts on a child under the age of 14 years.
“(7) Any felony punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison for life.
“(8) Any other felony in which the defendant inflicts great bodily injury on any person, other than an accomplice, which has been charged and proven, or any felony in which the defendant uses a firearm which use has been charged and proven.
“(9) Attempted murder.
“(10) Assault with intent to commit rape or robbery.
“(11) Assault with a deadly weapon or instrument on a peace officer.
“(12) Assault by a life prisoner on a noninmate.
“(13) Assault with a deadly weapon by an inmate.
“(14) Arson.
“(15) Exploding a destructive device or any explosive with intent to injure.
“(16) Exploding a destructive device or any explosive causing great bodily injury.
“(17) Exploding a destructive device or any explosive with intent to murder.
“(18) Robbery.
“(19) Kidnapping.
“(20) Taking of a hostage by an inmate of a state prison.
“(21) Attempt to commit a felony punishable by death or imprisonment in the state prison
