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In re ERNEST BARRAGAN LOPEZ and WILLARD ARTHUR WINHOVEN on Habeas Corpus.
Willard Arthur Winhoven, in pro. per., and Morris Lavine and Hugh R. Manes, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Petitioners.
Stanley Mosk and Thomas C. Lynch, Attorneys General, and Albert W. Harris, Jr., Deputy Attorney General, for Respondent.
Lopez's petition for a writ of habeas corpus presents the question whether we must grant him a new trial because of the admission at trial of his statements allegedly obtained in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel as delineated in the recent cases of Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) 378 U.S. 478 [84 S. Ct. 1758, 12 L. Ed. 2d 977], and Massiah v. United States (1964) 377 U.S. 201 [84 S. Ct. 1199, 12 L. Ed. 2d 246], even though the judgment against him became final before these cases were decided. The petitions for writs of habeas corpus by both Lopez and Winhoven present the question whether the commission of errors in the penalty trials similar to those condemned in People v. Morse (1964) 60 Cal. 2d 631 [36 Cal. Rptr. 201, 388 P.2d 33], requires us to grant petitioners new penalty trials. We have concluded that the right to counsel as established in Escobedo and Massiah does not apply retroactively on collateral attack. We further conclude that we must afford petitioners new penalty trials.
Lopez and Winhoven were arrested in Bakersfield on August 30, 1960, on charges that they committed a burglary in that community. At that time the police also suspected them of perpetrating the Los Angeles robbery of July 29, 1960, in which a fatality had occurred.
The Attorney General concedes that "on September 15th or 16th the Los Angeles police and District Attorney's office arranged to have Robert Luna, who was being held on other criminal charges, placed in the Kern County Jail in the same cell as Lopez and report to the police any statements of Lopez pertinent to the murder then under investigation." The ruse worked; Lopez made several incriminating statements to Luna which also implicated Winhoven. On September 30th Luna wrote down the statements from memory. Upon return to Los Angeles County on September 30, 1960, under a warrant for their arrest issued September 26, 1960, defendants were arraigned on charges of murder. At the trial, Luna testified as to his conversation with Lopez; likewise, Luna's memorandum concerning the content of the conversation was read into the record.
Lopez now contends that in view of the two above cited decisions of the United States Supreme Court, which were rendered after the final determination of his case, the introduction of the evidence concerning his incriminating statements to Luna wrongfully deprived him of his constitutional right to counsel.
We have held today in People v. Dorado (1965) ante, p. 338 [42 Cal. Rptr. 169, 398 P.2d 361] that a defendant's [62 Cal. 2d 372] confession could not properly be introduced into evidence if (1) the investigation was no longer a general inquiry into an unsolved crime but had begun to focus on a particular suspect, (2) the suspect was in custody, (3) the authorities had carried out a process of interrogations that lent itself to eliciting incriminating statements, (4) the authorities had not effectively informed defendant of his right to counsel or of his absolute right to remain silent, and no evidence established that he had waived these rights.
We reach this conclusion upon the basis of the three following propositions which we shall more fully analyze hereinafter: First, although the United States Supreme Court in Escobedo, by providing a suspect with an opportunity to obtain the protection of counsel at the accusatory stage, sought to eliminate conditions which invited coerced confessions, the ruling does not require a retroactive application.  Second, new interpretations of constitutional rights have been, and should be, applied retroactively only in those situations in which such new rules protect the innocent defendant against the possibility of conviction of a crime he did not commit; the fact that defendant was denied counsel under Escobedo does not affect the issue of guilt. Third, an absolute rule of retroactivity as to interpretations of constitutional rights which envisage the correction of future practices would impair the administration of criminal law and ultimately result in constitutional rigidity.
Turning to the first proposition, we believe that the United States Supreme Court in Escobedo sought primarily to prevent [62 Cal. 2d 373] police tactics which, in the past, have spawned involuntary confessions. The court has concluded that presence of counsel would go far to eradicate such tactics. As a means to that end it held that, if the opportunity to procure such counsel had been denied, the confession or incriminating statement procured by the police should not be introduced into evidence. Thus the rule contemplated the prospective prevention of coercive practices--not the extirpation of such practices committed in the past.
The resolution of the court in Escobedo to sterilize the police antechamber from the use of coercive tactics undoubtedly resulted from the realization of the inadequacy of present methods of dealing with involuntary confessions. The mere rejection of such confessions from evidence has not prevented police overreaching. Studies have shown that questionable tactics to obtain confessions or admissions continue on a widespread basis. fn. 3 The very difficulty of detecting the coercion that [62 Cal. 2d 375] might occur during police interrogation fn. 4 and the vagueness of the applicable standards for such determination fn. 5 have been adverse factors necessitating a new approach.
Thus the court in Escobedo sought the correction of the conditions which invited the coerced confessions and the attendant evils. fn. 6 But the new rule need not reach back to eradicate an environment entombed in the past; if that environment did produce the evil fruit of the coerced confession we may trust that the process of trial, despite the difficulties, disclosed it. We cannot say that the possibility of [62 Cal. 2d 376] abuse in the past is such that the voluntary statement then elicited must now be exorcised.
Second, unlike other rulings of the United States Supreme Court dealing with new interpretations of the Constitution, the Escobedo rule does not automatically call for retroactive application in order to correct past convictions of innocent defendants. Whatever the inadequacies of our prior procedures, we do not believe that they carried a substantial risk of the conviction of an innocent person because of the use in evidence of his voluntary statement.
Without discussion, the United States Supreme Court has applied retroactively on collateral attack its decisions requiring procedural fairness at criminal proceedings that vindicated an indigent's right to counsel at trial fn. 7 and on appeal, fn. 8 that guaranteed an indigent's right to a transcript of the trial, fn. 9 and that imposed more stringent standards for determining the voluntariness of confessions. fn. 10 Without counsel, a defendant unskilled in trial technique might not be able properly to establish his innocence at the trial. (Powell v. Alabama (1932) 287 U.S. 45, 68-69 [53 S. Ct. 55, 77 L. Ed. 158, 84 A.L.R. 527]; Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) 372 U.S. 335, 344-345 [83 S. Ct. 792, 9 L. Ed. 2d 799, 93 A.L.R.2d 733].) Without a transcript a defendant could not obtain an adequate appellate review of alleged errors at the trial which might be prejudicial. (Griffin v. Illinois (1956) 351 U.S. 12, 16 [76 S. Ct. 585, 100 L. Ed. 891, 55 A.L.R.2d 1055].) The involuntary confession, always potentially unreliable, could result in the conviction of the guiltless defendant. (In re Harris (1961) 56 Cal. 2d 879, 886 [16 Cal. Rptr. 889, 366 P.2d 305] (Traynor, J., concurring).) fn. 11 [62 Cal. 2d 377] To reject the retroactivity of the above constitutional rights would be to sanction the continued incarceration of a defendant despite errors at the trial which, upon correction, could well establish his innocence.
We therefore conclude that because the justification of the requirement of the right to counsel at the accusatory stage lies in the prospective purpose of benefiting the overall system of criminal administration by drying up the sources of coercion, no purpose would be served by applying Escobedo retroactively.
We held in In re Jackson (1964) 61 Cal. 2d 500, 506-509 [39 Cal. Rptr. 220, 393 P.2d 420] that such error could be reached by collateral attack and given retroactive application since the rule had been changed subsequent to the judgment becoming final. fn. 23 Under People v. Hines (1964) 61 Cal. 2d 164, 166, 170 [37 Cal. Rptr. 622, 390 P.2d 398], we must reverse the convictions since "substantial deviation from the standards established in Morse has occurred."
The writ is granted as to the penalty trials of petitioners. The remittitur issued in Crim. 7067, People v. Lopez (1963) 60 Cal. 2d 223 [32 Cal. Rptr. 424, 384 P.2d 16], is recalled and the judgments imposing death penalties are reversed insofar as they relate to the penalties. In all other respects the judgments are affirmed.petitioners Lopez and Winhoven are remanded to the custody of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County for new penalty trials.
SCHAUER, J. fn. * and McCOMB, J.
We concur in the order affirming the judgments of guilt. We dissent from the order recalling the remittitur in Crim. 7067 and from the order reversing the judgments imposing the death penalty insofar as they relate to the penalties.
FN 1. Although, strictly speaking, a prospective opinion is one in which the new rule of law applies to future cases only and not even to the case before the court, we are concerned with cases that became final prior to Escobedo and Massiah; thus, we use the terms "prospective" and "retroactive" accordingly. See United States ex rel. Linkletter v. Walker (1963) 323 F.2d 11, 13.
We shall assume, for the purposes of this analysis, that the decisions which we shall hereinafter designate under the generic term of Escobedo, apply to the factual situation presented here.
FN 3. In 1931 the Wickersham Commission stated, "the third degree--that is, the use of physical brutality, or other forms of cruelty, to obtain involuntary confessions or admissions--is widespread." U.S. National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement, Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement (1931) 4. In Chambers v. Florida (1940) 309 U.S. 227 [60 S. Ct. 472, 84 L. Ed. 716], in which a conviction was reversed on the basis of a coerced confession, Mr. Justice Black stated "[t]he police practices here examined are to some degree widespread throughout our country." (Id at 240, fn. 15.) Pound, Legal Interrogations of Persons Accused or Suspected of Crime (1934) 24 J.Crim.L., C. & P.S. 1014, 1016, 1017; see Warner, How Can the Third Degree Be Eliminated? (1940) 1 Bill of Rights Rev. 24, 25.
In 1961 the President's Civil Rights Commission reached similar conclusions about present-day police techniques. Equal Justice Under Law in Justice, 5 U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Reports 5-28 (1961). After a survey of conditions and practices in the State of New Jersey and further research for the United States Commission on Civil Rights, Arnold Trebach concluded that coercive police tactics were still prevalent. "The Court has found that coercion occurred and has overruled convictions only where the evidence strongly indicated that the police used exceedingly shocking methods to obtain confessions. As of late 1961, the Court had overruled convictions on this basis in a total of only twenty-two cases. In my opinion, these cases represent only the smallest fraction of the total number of convictions that have been based on coerced confessions since the Supreme Court reversed the first such conviction in 1936." The Rationing of Justice (1963) 4, 38. See also Memorandum on the Detention of Arrested Persons and their Production Before a Committing Magistrate in 2 Chaffee, Documents in Fundamental Human Rights 541 (1951-1952); Comment, An Historical Argument for the Right to Counsel During Police Interrogation (1964) 73 Yale L.J. 1000; 3 Wigmore on Evidence, Supp. § 851(a) (1962).
FN 6. See Packer, Two Models of the Criminal Process (1964) 113 U.Pa.L.Rev. 1, 36. Jurisdictions placing similar controls on police interrogation have done so to prevent coercive police tactics. Patrick Devlin, Justice of the High Court of England, in discussing the Judges' Rules, which place controls on the use of statements elicited during interrogation, stated, "The extraction of confessions has always been condemned by the common law; but there are methods of questioning which, without the use of threats or violence, tend to be unfair or oppressive; and it is against them that the Judges' Rules are directed." (The Criminal Prosecution in England (1958) 33.) The Evidence Act of India (1878) which, in effect, prohibits the interrogation of suspects, was said to be directed at police abuses. (Monir, Principles and Digest of the Law of Evidence (3d ed. 1950) 215.) Chalmers v. H.M. Advocate (1954) Sess. Cas. 66, 78-79 (Scotland).
FN 7. Doughty v. Maxwell (1964) 376 U.S. 202 [84 S. Ct. 702, 11 L. Ed. 2d 650] (per curiam); Pickelsimer v. Wainwright (1963) 375 U.S. 2 [84 S. Ct. 80, 11 L. Ed. 2d 41] (per curiam); LaVallee v. Durocher (1964) 377 U.S. 998 [84 S. Ct. 1921, 12 L. Ed. 2d 1048]. See Comment, The Supreme Court, 1963 Term (1964) 78 Harv.L.Rev. 143, 186; Pope, Further Developments in the Field of Frivolous Applications. Is Proliferation Probable? (1963) 33 F.R.D. 423, 424-425; but see Freund, New Vistas In Constitutional Law (1964) 112 U.Pa.L.Rev. 631, 637-638.
FN 8. Smith v. Crouse (1964) 378 U.S. 584 [84 S. Ct. 1929, 12 L. Ed. 2d 1039] (per curiam); Ruark v. Colorado (1964) 378 U.S. 585 [84 S. Ct. 1935, 12 L. Ed. 2d 1042] (per curiam).
FN 9. Eskridge v. Washington State Board of Prison Terms & Paroles (1958) 357 U.S. 214 [78 S. Ct. 1061, 2 L. Ed. 2d 1269]; but see Norvell v. Illinois (1963) 373 U.S. 420 [83 S. Ct. 1366, 10 L. Ed. 2d 456].
FN 10. Reck v. Pate (1961) 367 U.S. 433 [81 S. Ct. 1541, 6 L. Ed. 2d 948]; see Note, Prospective Overruling and Retroactive Application in the Federal Courts (1962) 71 Yale L.J. 907, 939, fn. 173; Note, Collateral Attack of Pre- Mapp v. Ohio Convictions Based on Illegally Obtained Evidence in State Courts (1962) 16 Rutgers L.Rev. 587, 592, fn. 32.
FN 11. See Goldstein, The State and the Accused: Balance of Advantage in Criminal Procedure (1960) 69 Yale L.J. 1149, 1187, fn. 124.
FN 12. Although the court in Escobedo grounds the decision on the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, it does not indicate that the denial of counsel at the interrogation stage would result in reversal absent the introduction of an incriminating statement. The court also indicates that the presence of counsel at interrogation will make meaningful the accused's right to remain silent. This reason does not relate to the erroneous conviction of the innocent since rarely do guiltless persons voluntarily confess.
FN 13. "[T]he purpose of the exclusionary rule 'is to deter--to compel respect for the constitutional guaranty in the only effectively available way--by removing the incentive to disregard it.' " Mapp v. Ohio (1961) 367 U.S. 643, 656 [81 S. Ct. 1684, 6 L. Ed. 2d 1081, 84 A.L.R.2d 933].
FN 14. Cases refusing to apply Mapp on collateral attack include United States ex rel. Angeles v. Fay (1964) 333 F.2d 12; United States ex rel. Emerick v. Denno (1963) 220 F. Supp. 890; affd. 328 F.2d 309; Gaitan v. United States (1963) 317 F.2d 494; United States ex rel. McCrea v. LaVallee (1963) 219 F. Supp. 917; Moore v. State (Ala. 1962) 146 So. 2d 734; People of the State of New York ex rel. Ellington v. Fay (1962) 207 F. Supp. 595; Commonwealth ex rel. Stoner v. Myers (1962) 199 Pa.Super. 341 [185 A.2d 806]; Commonwealth ex rel. Wilson v. Rundle (1963) 412 Pa. 109 [194 A.2d 143]; People v. Muller (1962) 11 N.Y.2d 154, 227 N.Y.S.2d 421 [182 N.E.2d 99]; Sisk v. Lane (1964) 331 F.2d 235; Villasino v. Maxwell (1963) 174 Ohio St. 483 [190 N.E.2d 265]; State v. McNulty (1964) 84 N.J.Super. 30 [200 A.2d 799]; United States ex rel. Linkletter v. Walker (1963) 323 F.2d 11; cert. granted (1964) 377 U.S. 930 [84 S. Ct. 1340, 12 L. Ed. 2d 295] (No. 1125, 1963 term, renumbered No. 95, 1964 term); see In re Harris (1961) 56 Cal. 2d 879, 880 [16 Cal. Rptr. 889, 366 P.2d 305] (Traynor, J., concurring); cases applying Mapp retroactively include United States ex rel. Holloway v. Reincke (1964) 229 F. Supp. 132; Hall v. Warden, Maryland Penitentiary (1963) 313 F.2d 483; United States ex rel. Eastman v. Fay (1963) 225 F. Supp. 677; California v. Hurst (1963) 325 F.2d 891; pet. for cert. filed, 32 U.S.L. Week 3323 (U.S. March 12, 1964) (No. 913, 1963 term; renumbered No. 45, 1964 term).
FN 15. See In re Jackson (1964) 61 Cal. 2d 500, 507, fn. 6 [39 Cal. Rptr. 220, 393 P.2d 420]; Comment, Prospective Overruling and Retroactive Application in the Federal Courts (1962) 71 Yale L.J. 907; Note, Collateral Attack of Pre-Mapp v. Ohio Convictions Based on Illegally Obtained Evidence in State Courts (1962) 16 Rutgers L.Rev. 587; Bender, The Retroactive Effect of an Overruling Constitutional Decision: Mapp v. Ohio (1962) 110 U.Pa.L.Rev. 650; Freund, New Vistas in Constitutional Law (1964) 112 U.Pa.L.Rev. 631, 637- 638.
FN 16. The application of Escobedo prospectively and retroactively to cases on appeal will be sufficient to deter unlawful police conduct. See In re Harris (1961) 56 Cal. 2d 879, 880 [16 Cal. Rptr. 889, 366 P.2d 305] (Traynor, J., concurring).
FN 17. The court in State v. Smith (1962) 37 N.J. 481 [181 A.2d 761, 762], said, "Concepts of justice change. Doctrines, incomprehensible today, were once embraced by judges who in their times were doubtless the epitome of the reasonable man. Surely this is so in long-range retrospect. It is equally true that at the moment of change the choice is not necessarily between dead right and dead wrong. The judicial scene is studded with issues upon which conflicting views command respectable support. When a court alters its course, it is often but a preference, a belief that justice is better served in another way, with no intimation that whoever disagrees must be mean or inane."
FN 18. See also Chicot County Drainage Dist. v. Baxter State Bank (1940) 308 U.S. 371, 374 [60 S. Ct. 317, 84 L. Ed. 329]; Aero Spark Plug Co. v. B. G. Corporation (1942) 130 F.2d 290, 298 (Frank, J., concurring); Address of Chief Judge Cardozo (1932) 55 N.Y. St. Bar Assn. Rep. 263, 294 et seq., reprinted in Hall, Selected Writings of Benjamin Nathan Cardozo (1947) 7, 33; Comment, Prospective Overruling and Retroactive Application in the Federal Courts (1962) 71 Yale L.J. 907; Levy, Realistic Jurisprudence and Prospective Overruling (1960) 109 U.Pa. L.Rev. 1; Note, Limitation of Judicial Decisions to Prospective Operation (1961) 46 Iowa L.Rev. 600; Note, The Effect of Overruling Prior Judgments on Constitutional Issues (1957) 43 Va. L.Rev. 1279; Note; Prospective Operation of Decisions Holding Statutes Unconstitutional or Overruling Prior Decisions (1947) 60 Harv. L.Rev. 437.
FN 19. See People v. Maughs (1906) 149 Cal. 253 [86 P. 187]; People v. Ryan (1907) 152 Cal. 364 [92 P. 853].
FN 20. The court further stated, "There is no rule of thumb, nor should there be. It is the burden of this opinion to attempt to demonstrate that, by Mr. Justice Cardozo's test, the Mapp v. Ohio doctrine should not be given general retroactive effect.
"As we view the problem, there is now at stake one of the most important principles of constitutional interpretation. It has been the proud boast of the most distinguished of our American jurists that the federal Constitution, and especially the Bill of Rights, including the Fourteenth Amendment, is not a rigid aggregation of fundamental rules but a dynamic and flexible document, to be interpreted from time to time to conform to the social and economic needs of a changing society in a modern world. ... We do not doubt the power of the judicial establishment to decide that the doctrine of Mapp v. Ohio is to be given general retroactive effect, or to decide that it is not to be given general retroactive effect. There is no philosophical obstacle to a decision either way. But there must be a rational basis for that decision." (Ibid) See also Griffin v. Illinois (1956) 351 U.S. 12, 26 [76 S. Ct. 585, 100 L. Ed. 891, 55 A.L.R.2d 1055] (Frankfurter, J., concurring); cases cited in fn. 14 supra.
In Chicot County Drainage Dist. v. Baxter State Bank (1940) 308 U.S. 371, 374 [60 S. Ct. 317, 84 L. Ed. 329], the United States Supreme Court in holding that a decree based on a statute subsequently held unconstitutional was res judicata said, "It is quite clear, however, that such broad staatements as to the effect of a determination of unconstitutionality must be taken with qualifications. The actual existence of a statute, prior to such a determination, is an operative fact and may have consequences which cannot be ignored. The past cannot always be erased by a new judicial declaration."
FN 22. The instruction given in the case appears to be substantially the same as that given in Morse except that a sentence was added stating: "You are instructed that while eligibility for release on parole at certain minimum prison terms has been indicated, service by a life prisoner of such minimum prison terms does not mean that he necessarily would be so released on parole upon service of such minimum term."
It further appears that, instead of presenting statistical evidence by stipulation as was done in Morse, defendant Lopez called Joseph Spangler of the Adult Authority as a witness, who testified with respect to the number of persons paroled. The prosecution argued to the jury that if it imposed a life sentence, defendants would be eligible to apply for a parole, but if it imposed the death penalty, it would know that it had "done something good for society" by precluding the chance that defendants would take another life in the event of parole or escape.
FN 23. The retroactive application of Morse on collateral attack differs significantly from such an application of Escobedo. The erroneous instructions, evidence and argument condemned in Morse obviously affect the fairness of the penalty trial; such errors must have affected such trials before Morse. In the instant case we have held that the error proscribed by Escobedo did not affect the fairness of the trial; indeed, we have compared the instant case to that of Mapp v. Ohio, supra, as to which in Jackson we said, "The special circumstances of the present case completely differ from those in cases involving the retrospective application of the rule of Mapp v. Ohio. ..." 61 Cal.2d at p. 507, fn. 6. Furthermore, as we said in Jackson, "the retrospective effect of our holding [in Morse] has limited application. Our ruling can only affect those defendants who, awaiting execution after the imposition of the death sentence, suffered the prejudicial error described in Morse and Hines during their own penalty trials. These are a fixed group, and none hereafter will be added to their number." 61 Cal. 2d 507. As we pointed out supra, the retroactive application of Escobedo would affect countless cases and would cripple the orderly administration of criminal justice.

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