THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. WILLIE B. NEAL et al., Defendants and Appellants.
No. B067420
Court of Appeal of California, Second District, Division Five
October 18, 1993
Rehearing Denied November 9, 1993
19 Cal. App. 4th 1114 | 24 Cal. Rptr. 2d 129
TURNER, P. J.
Review Denied February 3, 1994
[EDITORS’ NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.]
OPINION
PROCEDURAL HISTORY
Defendants, Willie Neal and Patrick Shelton, appeal from multiple convictions for a series of armed robberies which they committed at various places during January of 1991. They were jointly charged by an amended information with 17 counts (1 through 6, 8 through 10, 13 through 15, 17 through 20, and 22) of second degree robbery (
Defendants assert on appeal that: (1) there was insufficient evidence to support their convictions in counts 1 through 5 (robbery) and 11 (robbery and receiving stolen property); (2) the trial court committed reversible error in excluding third party culpability evidence; and (3) the trial court erred in failing to state reasons for imposing consecutive sentences against Mr. Shelton. The Attorney General argues that certain jurisdictional sentencing errors as to Mr. Neal warrant a remand. As to Mr. Shelton, we affirm the judgment, although we have increased the amount of his presentence credits. As to Mr. Neal, we affirm the judgment except as to certain jurisdictional sentencing errors which are to be corrected on remand. In the published portion of this opinion, we hold that Mr. Shelton‘s contention that the trial judge failed to properly state reasons for imposing consecutive sentences has been waived by the failure to have interposed a contemporaneous objection to the apparent noncompliance with the sentencing rules in superior court.
I. FACTS*
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II. DISCUSSION
A., B.*
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C. The Consecutive Sentences
(1a) Mr. Shelton contends the trial court failed to state reasons for imposing numerous consecutive sentences. (2) Mr. Shelton is correct that a sentencing judge must state reasons for a sentence choice. (
“`“An appellate court will ordinarily not consider procedural defects or erroneous rulings, in connection with relief sought or defenses asserted, where an objection could have been, but was not, presented to the lower court by some appropriate method. . . . The circumstances may involve such intentional acts or acquiescence as to be appropriately classified under the headings of estoppel or waiver. . . . Often, however, the explanation is simply that it is unfair to the trial judge and to the adverse party to take advantage of an error on appeal when it could easily have been corrected at the trial.“’ [Citation.] `“The purpose of the general doctrine of waiver is to encourage a defendant to bring errors to the attention of the trial court, so that they may be corrected or avoided and a fair trial had. . . .“’ [Citation.] `“No procedural principle is more familiar to this Court than that a constitutional right,” or a right of any sort, “may be forfeited in criminal as well as civil cases by the failure to make timely assertion of the right before a tribunal having jurisdiction to determine it.” [Citation.]’ [¶] `The rationale for this rule was aptly explained in Sommer v. Martin (1921) 55 Cal.App. 603, at page 610 [204 P. 33] . . .: “`In the hurry of the trial many things may be, and are, overlooked which would readily have been rectified had attention been called to them. The law casts upon the party the duty of looking after his [or her] legal rights and of calling the judge‘s attention to any infringement of them. If any other rule were to obtain, the party would in most cases be careful to be silent as to [her or] his objections until it would be too late to obviate them, and the result would be that few judgments would stand the test of an appeal.‘“’ [Citation.]” (Original italics, fn. omitted; accord, Doers v. Golden Gate Bridge etc. Dist. (1979) 23 Cal.3d 180, 184-185, fn. 1 [151 Cal.Rptr. 837, 588 P.2d 1261].)
(1c) Our Supreme Court has applied this general rule of law in varying circumstances in the sentencing context.3 In People v. Walker (1991) 54 Cal.3d 1013, 1022-1023 [1 Cal.Rptr.2d 902, 819 P.2d 861], the defendant
In People v. Welch (1993) 5 Cal.4th 228, 235-237 [19 Cal.Rptr.2d 520, 851 P.2d 802], a defendant did not object that a particular probation condition was inappropriate in the trial court. Rather, the issue was raised for the first time on appeal. Our Supreme Court held: “It is settled that failure to object and make an offer of proof at the sentencing hearing concerning alleged errors or omissions in the probation report waives the claim on appeal. [Citations.] No different rule should generally apply to probation conditions under consideration at the same time. A timely objection allows the court to modify or delete an allegedly unreasonable condition or to explain why it is necessary in the particular case. The parties must, of course, be given a reasonable opportunity to present any relevant argument and evidence. A rule foreclosing appellate review of claims not timely raised in this manner helps discourage the imposition of invalid probation conditions and reduce the number of costly appeals brought on that basis. [Citations.]” (Id. at pp. 234-235, fn. omitted.) Certainly, the same analysis would apply to a failure to state reasons for imposing a consecutive sentence. A timely objection would permit the court to insure that its sentence choice was rationally based. Further, just as a defendant has a duty to object to errors or omissions in a probation report, reason leads inextricably to the conclusion that no different rule should apply to a sentence which is based in part upon what appears in the probation officer‘s analysis. Accordingly,
In Welch, our Supreme Court construed its prior decision of People v. Chi Ko Wong (1979) 18 Cal.3d 698, 725 [135 Cal.Rptr. 392, 557 P.2d 976], to hold that a failure to object at a sentencing hearing concerning errors in a probation report precluded the issue from being raised on appeal. (People v. Welch, supra, 5 Cal.4th at p. 234.) Further, in People v. Saunders, supra, 5 Cal.4th at pages 590-591, after reviewing the general rules of waiver discussed in the body of this opinion, our Supreme Court held that the failure to object to the discharge of a jury until a determination of the truth of an alleged prior conviction waived any right pursuant to sections 1025 and 1164 to have the same jury determine those issues. In other words, the statutory rights embodied in sections 1025 and 1164 were waived by the failure to interpose an objection. Notably, in Saunders, our Supreme Court indicated that the Legislature in enacting sections 1025 and 1164 did not intend “to create a procedural trap that would enable defense counsel to ambush the trial judge and deprive the People of their statutory right to prove one or more alleged prior convictions for the purpose of enhancing the punishment of the repeat offender.” (5 Cal.4th at pp. 590-591.) Similarly, there appears to have been no statutory or legislative purpose in creating a procedural trap that would allow defense counsel to remain silent at the time of sentencing and then permit the issue to be raised once again on appeal, thereby potentially creating a defendant‘s opportunity for a new sentencing hearing. Also, in Welch, our Supreme Court emphasized the costs incurred by the public in permitting appeals of probation conditions when no objection was made in superior court. (People v. Welch, supra, 5 Cal.4th at p. 235.) The same logic applies in this case.
We wish to emphasize the Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that certain kinds of sentencing errors need not be the subject of an objection. For example, no objection need be interposed in the event a sentence is violative of section 654 because it impermissibly punishes the same act twice. (People v. Perez (1979) 23 Cal.3d 545, 549-550, fn. 3 [153 Cal.Rptr. 40, 591 P.2d 63].) Moreover, sentencing errors which go to the jurisdiction of the court, such as a violation of section 654, can be raised at any time by either the prosecution or the defense even though no objection was interposed in the trial court. (People v. Welch, supra, 5 Cal.4th at p. 235.) This is because a sentence which is not authorized by law exceeds the jurisdiction of the court. However, the consecutive sentences imposed in the present case were authorized specifically pursuant to section 1170.1, subdivision (a) and cannot logically be characterized as being in excess of jurisdiction. In
We note that there is a conflict in terms of the Court of Appeal authority as to whether an objection to a failure to state reasons is necessary in order to preserve the issue for appeal. Three Court of Appeal decisions have held that the waiver rule applies to a failure to state reasons for a sentence choice. The most important decision was one of this division, People v. Crouch (1982) 131 Cal.App.3d 902, 904-905 [182 Cal.Rptr. 701], where then Associate Justice Clarke Stephens, who was nearing the end of a 30-year career as a judge and justice, addressed the issue of whether the waiver rule applied when defense counsel did not object to the trial court‘s failure to state reasons for selecting prison as the sentencing choice as required by section 1170, subdivisions (b) and (c). Justice Stephens concluded that the sentencing judge violated the foregoing express statutory requirement that reasons be stated for denying a probation request. However, this court held that resentencing was unwarranted because defendant‘s trial counsel failed to object to the judge‘s violation of the sentencing rules. Associate Justice Stephens noted: “The question remains, however, as to whether it is necessary to require resentencing. The court read and considered the probation report. The argument for probation on behalf of defendant was, at best, bottomed on shifting sand while the prosecutor stated chapter and verse from defendant‘s lengthy record, both juvenile and adult. It appears to us that the record in this case justifies the order made, hence defense counsel‘s tacit acceptance of the sentence without statement of reasons can be construed as waiver or invited error. To hold otherwise merely places form over substance and contributes to a `make-work’ slowdown in the courts. [¶] As an officer of the court, defense counsel has an obligation to assist the court in avoiding errors which merely squander court time and in no way constitute an exercise of his [or her] client‘s right to a fair trial. [¶] Although we hold that the failure to follow rule 439(d)
Earlier, in People v. White (1981) 117 Cal.App.3d 270, 279 [172 Cal.Rptr. 612], the Court of Appeal had addressed a sufficiency of the evidence argument relating to the reasons for a sentence chosen by a trial judge. The Court of Appeal rejected the waiver argument, quite obviously because issues of sufficiency of the evidence are never waived, but proceeded to note, “As a matter of principle, however, we do not totally reject the Attorney General‘s waiver argument. Certainly, we should seriously question the merits of any appeal which challenges a trial court‘s sentencing choice where the record indicates that defense counsel remained silent at the time of the sentence and failed to call the judge‘s attention to any perceived infringement of his [or her] client‘s rights.” (Id. at p. 279, fn. 4.)
Finally, in People v. Peel (1993) 17 Cal.App.4th 594, 598-600 [21 Cal.Rptr.2d 449], our colleagues in the Fifth Appellate District confronted a situation involving the failure to make findings before directing that a defendant participate in a substance abuse counseling program. Section 1203.096, subdivision (a) provided that upon a felony conviction when the court made certain findings, it was required to recommend in writing that the defendant participate in a drug counseling or education program.5 In Peel, the trial court failed to make the requisite findings mandated by the statute and recommended that the defendant participate in an drug counseling or education program. The Court of Appeal, relying upon People v. Walker, supra, 54 Cal.3d at page 1023, held that “a defendant who fails to request findings pursuant to section 1203.096, subdivision (b), or to object to the trial court‘s failure to make such findings, thereby waives his or her right to raise the issue for the first time on appeal.” (17 Cal.App.4th at p. 600.)
We believe the decisions in Crouch, White, and Peel are consistent with the California Supreme Court authority in terms of the general rule of waiver and the more specific developing law reflected by Welch as it involves preserving sentencing issues on appeal.
These three cases are also consistent with the holdings of not only the later developed Supreme Court analysis but also of a whole host of cases which
D. Other Sentencing Issues*
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The judgment is affirmed as to Patrick Shelton except that an amended abstract of judgment is to issue indicating he is to receive 654 days of presentence credit which includes 218 days of conduct credits. The judgment of conviction and sentence is affirmed as to Willie B. Neal except in the following particulars. The aggregate term imposed on May 11, 1992, is to be increased to 37 years, 8 months. The order staying counts 17 and 18 is reversed. On remand, the trial court is to exercise its discretion and order those sentences to run consecutively or concurrently. The order granting 711 days of presentence credits is reversed. On remand, the trial court is to recompute the amount of presentence credits in a fashion consistent with the views expressed in this opinion.
Grignon, J., and Godoy Perez, J., concurred.
A petition for a rehearing was denied November 9, 1993, and appellants’ petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied February 3, 1994. Mosk, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.
