Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/california/supreme-court/2d/53/786.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 15:55:56+00:00

Document:
In re EMERY NEWBERN, on Habeas Corpus.
Emery Newbern, in pro. per., and Ernest L. Graves, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Petitioner.
William B. McKesson, District Attorney (Los Angeles), Jere J. Sullivan and Harry Wood, Deputy District Attorneys, for Respondent.
This is a petition in propria persona for a writ of habeas corpus by Emery Newbern against whom judgments of conviction for the offenses of vagrancy and appearing in a public place in an intoxicated condition were rendered in the municipal court.pursuant to the order to show cause petitioner has been released on his own recognizance pending the outcome of this proceeding. Counsel has been appointed for petitioner after his request therefor.
Petitioner was arraigned on August 14, 1959, in the municipal court on two misdemeanor complaints. One alleged that on or about August 12, 1959, he committed the crime of vagrancy [53 Cal. 2d 789] in that he was a common drunkard (Pen. Code, § 647, subd. 11); the other alleged that on the 13th of August, 1959, he was in a public place in a state of intoxication (Long Beach Mun. Code, § 4150). He entered pleas of not guilty to each charge. Trial was thereupon set for the 18th of August, only four days after the entry of such pleas.petitioner complained that four days were not sufficient in which to adequately prepare for trial, and requested that counsel be appointed by the court as he was without funds with which to employ counsel of his own choosing. The court appointed the public defender to represent petitioner but refused to postpone the date of trial.
Petitioner alleges that as the 15th and 16th of August were, respectively, a Saturday and Sunday he was not able to consult with counsel until the eve of the trial, the night of August 17th. He states that in the course of that meeting it was decided that a continuance was needed in order to adequately prepare to meet the charges against him. It was urged that certain witnesses and records of court were needed, and that the public defender required time in which to research the legal questions involved in the case. Accordingly, when the cause was called for trial the following morning, the public defender moved for a continuance in the interests of justice, which motion was denied.
At this time, the People moved to amend the complaint charging vagrancy to allege that the crime was committed "on or about August 13, 1959" instead of August 12.petitioner was arraigned on the amended complaint. On his refusal to waive time in which to enter a plea, a plea of not guilty was entered for him, and the trial proceeded forthwith.
The evidence for the prosecution consisted of dockets and minute orders of petitioner's pleas of guilty to prior charges of intoxication and opinion evidence as to petitioner's intoxicated condition on several previous occasions and at the time of his arrest on the charges contained herein.
The petitioner is founded on alleged constitutional infirmities of the judgments of conviction, conditions of detention, and the aforesaid vagrancy statute under which petitioner was convicted.
As such prejudice is neither alleged nor apparent from the record herein it does not appear that the change in date of the complaint required the trial court to grant a continuance. But the record reveals that petitioner was otherwise deprived of the effective aid of counsel in the instant proceedings.
 As heretofore stated, counsel was appointed for petitioner [53 Cal. 2d 791] but was not able to consult with him until the night before trial. This failure may not be charged to petitioner. It is the duty of the court to secure to a defendant the right to counsel with all its concomitant benefits. (In re Newbern, 168 Cal. App. 2d 472, 477 [335 P.2d 948].) The Legislature has attempted to prevent the occurrence of the situation that arose herein by providing that a defendant must be given at least five days in which to prepare for trial after his plea has been entered. (Pen. Code, § 1049.) Failure to follow that statutory mandate constituted error by the trial court.
Furthermore, substantial questions of the constitutionality of the subsection of the vagrancy statute under which petitioner was convicted were raised and, as will be seen hereinafter, are meritorious. Adequate time to research such questions as well as time to chart the course of the defense may not have been accomplished literally overnight.
 The required meaning, certainty and lack of ambiguity may appear on the face of the questioned statute or from any demonstrably established technical or common law meaning of the language in question. (People v. McCaughan, supra, 49 Cal. 2d 409, 414; Lorenson v. Superior Court, 35 Cal. 2d 49, 60 [216 P.2d 859].) Is the term common drunk ambiguous on its face? We are constrained to answer this question in the affirmative.
 There can be no doubt that the term common drunk is in general use in the community, and the adjective common [53 Cal. 2d 793] is undoubtedly one of the most widely used words of the English language. Here, unfortunately, lies the difficulty, for we think it evident that such generality of usage has resulted in a variety of differing definitions rather than any single precise meaning to the term. Webster's New International Dictionary (2d ed., unabridged) assigns 14 definitions to common ranging from "belonging ... to the community at large" through "of frequent or ordinary occurrence or appearance" to "characteristic of the lower classes." Webster's New World Dictionary defines common in approximately as many variants, including "public," "general," "familiar," "usual," and "ordinary." Black's Law Dictionary also has a number of definitions listed, including those above set forth. None of these dictionaries has a listing for the term common drunk although Black's includes in its definition of the term drunkard the statement that common drunk is taken as the equivalent of "habitual" or "public" drunk. It is noteworthy that the authority just cited is based on only two out of the vast number of cases to be hereinafter discussed dealing with the meaning of the terms in question. It may be added that these definitions adopted by Black's Law Dictionary are not mutually inclusive, but deal with two very different attributes.  In general, the term common drunk may variously be, and is, used to denote one who is drunk many times, one who is addicted to alcohol, one who is drunk in a very unsavory manner, and one who has the reputation of being drunk, among others.
Only once has the constitutionality and construction of the "common drunk" subdivision of the vagrancy section of our Penal Code come before the appellate courts of this state. In an opinion by the appellate department of the Superior Court of Stanislaus County it was defined as "habitual or frequent" and held free of objectionable vagueness. (People v. Daniel, 168 Cal. App. 2d Supp. 788, 801 [337 P.2d 247].) [53 Cal. 2d 794] In view of the plethora of conflicting definitions of the term common drunk in common use we can see no compelling reason to accept the definition advanced by the Daniel case. Even assuming that case to be correct, however, we are not out of the definitional woods, for we are faced with the task of defining the substitute terms habitual and frequent. Once more the dictionaries are not of too much help for they only indicate a multitude of possible definitions for each of these terms.  Habitual may be "done by habit," "steady," "usual," or "frequent." (Webster's New World Dictionary.) A thing done by habit may be one done "often" or "usually." It may be a "practice," "custom," an "automatic act" or an "addiction." (Ibid)  Similarly, frequent may be defined as "usually," "familiarly," "addicted to" or "habitually." In which sense are we to take either term? Is a common drunk one who is drunk often, and if so, how often and within what period of time? fn. 1 Or is it one who is usually drunk, or one who is inordinately addicted to the use of alcohol?
The other jurisdictions again provide little help. The term habitual drunkard is used to delineate many different afflictions, including the following: "To constitute an habitual drunkard, it is not necessary that a man should be always drunk. ... The only rule is, has he a fixed habit of drunkenness? Was he habituated to an intemperance whenever the opportunity offered?" (Ludwick v. Commonwealth, 18 Pa. 172, 174-175, emphasis added. See also Magahay v. Magahay, 35 Mich. 210.) It has also been held to mean one who habitually becomes intoxicated by the voluntary use of intoxicating liquors (Wilson v. White, 29 Tex.Civ.App. 588 [69 S.W. 989]); one who " 'has a fixed habit of frequently getting drunk, though not oftener drunk than sober, and though sober for weeks at a time' " (Patton v. Commonwealth, 273 Ky. 307 [116 S.W.2d 652], emphasis added); one who has "lost the power or will to control [his] appetite for intoxicating liquors ... [those] who are in need of care and treatment, and ... those it would be dangerous to leave at large" (Leavitt v. City of Morris, 105 Minn. 170 [117 N.W. 393, 395 [17 L.R.A.N.S. 984, 15 Ann.Cas. 961]; Ash v. Ash, 327 Ill.App. 656 [64 N.E.2d 741, 743]); one who has "gross and confirmed habits of intoxication" (Gourlay v. Gourlay, 16 R.I. [53 Cal. 2d 795] 705 [19 A. 142, 143]); one who has acquired the habit "of using spiritous, malt or fermented liquors ... to such an extent ... as to deprive him of reasonable self control" (Interdiction of Gasquet, 136 La. 957 [68 So. 89, 92]); one who has lost the ability, through drink, to manage his own affairs (Rude v. Nass, 79 Wis. 321 [48 N.W. 555, 558, 24 Am.St.Rep. 717]), and as one who is drunk more often, literally, than not (Tatum v. State, supra, 32 Ala.App. 128 [22 So. 2d 350, 351]). It may easily be seen from the foregoing collection of cases that reasonable men differ greatly as to the meanings to be ascribed to the term common or habitual drunks or drunkards. It is also apparent that some of the definitions quoted above are not, themselves, free from a charge of ambiguity.
The language just quoted from the Ryan case (supra, 70 Wis. 676 [36 N.W. 823]) points up the dual nature of the problem arising from vague statutory language. The first aspect of the difficulty is that citizens are not sufficiently warned by vague language as to what course of conduct is denounced. Secondly, the court is given insufficient standards by which to judge the defendant's conduct. Consequently, each judge and jury is free to define the crime in any manner that it sees fit, giving rise to the dangers of imposing ex post facto punishment on the defendant, having the jury find the law as well as the facts and giving the statute the effect of a bill of attainder in each particular case.
 Finally, we might point out that the Constitution of the State of California commands that all general laws be of uniform operation. (Const., art. I, § 11.) That provision will not tolerate a criminal law so lacking in definition that each defendant is left to the vagaries of individual judges and juries. Yet, as we have pointed out above, such is the inevitable result of attempting to enforce a law punishing a "common drunk," whereunder a person drunk, for example, once a week for four months could be found guilty of a violation of subdivision 11 of Penal Code, section 647, in one jurisdiction but not in another.
[16b] For the foregoing reasons we conclude that the challenged subdivision of Penal Code, section 647, is unconstitutionally vague, uncertain and incapable of being uniformly enforced. The contrary holding in People v. Daniel, supra, 168 Cal. App. 2d Supp. 788, is disapproved.petitioner may not, therefore, be subjected to trial for the violation of subdivision 11 of Penal Code, section 647, and is entitled to his discharge from custody or further imprisonment by reason of his conviction thereunder.
The writ is granted, the convictions are set aside, and as to the case wherein petitioner was charged with a violation of Penal Code, section 647, subdivision 11, he is ordered discharged from custody. In the case wherein petitioner is charged with a violation of Municipal Code, section 4150, of the City of Long Beach, it is ordered that he be discharged from the custody of the Sheriff of Los Angeles County and committed to the custody of the Chief of Police of the City of Long Beach for further proceedings in accordance with the views herein expressed.
Gibson, C. J., Traynor, J., Schauer, J., Spence, J., McComb, J., and Peters, J., concurred.
FN 2. Present in Blackstone are the crimes of drunkenness (4 Blackstone Commentaries, § 64--dealing with a single, public act), common barratry (4 Blackstone Commentaries, § 142--in which common means only by one not a lawyer), common nuisance (4 Blackstone Commentaries, § 167--in which common merely means public) and common scold (4 Blackstone Commentaries, § 169--which was only a type of public nuisance). From none of the foregoing may any assistance be derived.

References: § 647
 § 4150
 § 1049
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 § 11
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 § 64
 § 142
 § 167
 § 169