Filed 7/30/13 P. v. Scott CA4/3 

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IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT 

DIVISION THREE 

THE PEOPLE, 

 Plaintiff and Respondent, 

 v. 

MORRIS ENELL SCOTT, 

 Defendant and Appellant. 

 G047218 

 (Super. Ct. No. 11HF0210) 

 O P I N I O N 

 Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Richard 

M. King, Judge. Affirmed in part and reversed in part. 

 Zachary D. Winnick, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for 

Defendant and Appellant. 

 Kamala D. Harris, Attorney General, Dane R. Gillette, Chief Assistant 

Attorney General, Julie L. Garland, Assistant Attorney General, Lilia E. Garcia and 

Kristine A. Gutierrez, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. 

* * * 
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 The People charged defendant Morris Enell Scott with being a convicted 

felon and causing a concealed firearm to be in a vehicle. (Pen. Code, former § 12025, 

subds. (a)(3), (b)(1), now Pen. Code, § 25400, subds. (a)(3), (c)(1).) In a bifurcated trial, 

the jury convicted defendant of causing a concealed firearm to be in a vehicle and the 

court found defendant had suffered a prior felony conviction. The court sentenced 

defendant to the low term of 16 months in county jail. In a separate written order, but not 

in its oral pronouncement of sentence, the court ordered defendant to pay a $235 criminal 

justice administration fee (also known as a booking fee). 

 On appeal defendant contends the booking fee should be stricken. We 

agree. In all other respects, we affirm the judgment. 

 

FACTS 

 Defendant was a passenger in a vehicle stopped by the police for a broken 

tail light. The police searched the vehicle. The search uncovered a laptop computer case 

containing a gun and bullets, as well as a ticket stub bearing defendant’s name. 

Defendant admitted he owned the gun. 

 

DISCUSSION 

 At the sentencing hearing on July 27, 2012, the court, after sentencing 

defendant to the low term of 16 months in county jail, stated, “The court will also impose 

the following fines: A $40 court operation fee, a $30 criminal conviction assessment fee. 

The court will also impose a state restitution fund fee of $200 as this [offense] did occur 

before January 1st of 2012.” The court ordered defendant to pay the required fees within 

18 months. Because defendant would receive credits while serving his 16-month jail 

term, the court reasoned that an 18-month payment due date for the fines would provide 
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defendant “plenty of cushion . . . to pay the fees.” At the sentencing hearing, the court 

made no mention of a criminal justice administration fee or booking fee. Thus, defendant 

had no opportunity to object to the imposition of such a fee. 

 The record contains a written “Order to Pay County Criminal Justice 

Administration Fee” signed by the court on the sheriff’s department’s standard form, 

ordering defendant to pay $235 to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department as a criminal 

justice administration fee pursuant to Government Code sections 29550, subdivision (c) 

and 29550.2, subdivision (a). Although the court’s signature date is written as both July 

27 and 28 of 2012, the superior court file stamped date is July 27, 2012. 

 The court minutes for that day state: “The Court grants request for booking 

fees. Request form filed. [¶] Pay $235 booking fees to Orange County Sheriff’s 

Department.” 

 Government Code section 29550.2 provides for the imposition of a criminal 

justice administration fee on any person who has been booked into a county jail pursuant 

to an arrest by a governmental entity and convicted of any criminal offense related to the 

arrest and booking, if the person has the ability to pay. (Id., subd. (a).) A court’s finding 

of a defendant’s ability to pay may be express or implied and is reviewed for substantial 

evidence. (People v. Phillips (1994) 25 Cal.App.4th 62, 71.) 

 “In a criminal case, it is the oral pronouncement of sentence that constitutes 

the judgment. [Citation.] To the extent a minute order diverges from the sentencing 

proceedings it purports to memorialize, it is presumed to be the product of clerical error. 

[Citation.] Likewise, the abstract of judgment ‘“cannot add to or modify the judgment 

which it purports to digest or summarize.”’ [Citations.] As with other clerical errors, 

discrepancies between an abstract and the actual judgment as orally pronounced are 

subject to correction at any time, and should be corrected by a reviewing court when 

detected on appeal.” (People v. Scott (2012) 203 Cal.App.4th 1303, 1324.) 
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 Defendant contends the booking fee was not part of the judgment against 

him because it was never orally pronounced by the court. He urges us to strike the fee in 

the interests of judicial economy. The Attorney General disputes defendant’s contention, 

arguing the court’s written order properly imposed the fee despite the absence of an oral 

pronouncement. Nonetheless, the Attorney General concedes the “record is unclear as to 

whether the trial court considered [defendant’s] ability to pay the booking fee [and 

therefore] this case should be remanded for the trial court to make such a finding or strike 

the fee.” 

 The parties are correct the record does not show the court made any finding 

of defendant’s ability to pay the booking fee. Such a finding is required by Government 

Code section 29550.2, subdivision (a), for the imposition of a booking fee. In the 

interests of judicial economy, we will strike the $235 booking fee. 

DISPOSITION 

 We hereby strike the court’s order requiring defendant to pay a $235 county 

criminal justice administration fee. In all other respects, the judgment is affirmed. 

 

 IKOLA, J. 

WE CONCUR: 

O’LEARY, P. J. 

BEDSWORTH, J.