Opinion ID: 2507609
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Certificate of Probable Cause

Text: The Attorney General contends this appeal must be dismissed because the trial court did not issue a certificate of probable cause for appeal. Such a certificate was not required. Section 1237.5 provides that an appeal may not be taken after a plea of guilty or no contest unless the defendant has filed a statement showing reasonable grounds for appeal and the trial court has executed and filed a certificate of probable cause. This requirement does not apply, however, if the appeal is based upon grounds that arose after entry of the plea and that do not affect the validity of the plea. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 8.304(b)(4)(B).) In People v. Panizzon (1996) 13 Cal.4th 68, 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 851, 913 P.2d 1061 ( Panizzon ), we held that a certificate of probable cause was required in a case in which the defendant claimed on appeal that his negotiated sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment. In Panizzon, the defendant had agreed to plead no contest to certain charges, and further agreed to a sentence of life imprisonment with the possibility of parole plus 12 years, in exchange for the dismissal of additional charges. On appeal, the defendant asserted that this sentence violated state and federal prohibitions against cruel and unusual punishment, but the Attorney General argued that the appeal should be dismissed because the defendant had riot complied with the requirements of section 1237.5. We explained: In determining whether section 1237.5 applies to a challenge of a sentence imposed after a plea of guilty or no contest, courts must look to the substance of the appeal: `the crucial issue is what the defendant is challenging, not the time or manner in which the challenge is made.' [Citation.] Hence, the critical inquiry is whether a challenge to the sentence is in substance a challenge to the validity of the plea, thus rendering the appeal subject to the requirements of section 1237.5. ( Panizzon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 76, 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 851, 913 P.2d 1061.) Although the defendant in Panizzon purported not to contest the validity of his negotiated plea, we concluded that his challenge to the sentence to which he had agreed was an attack upon an integral part of the plea and in substance, a challenge to the validity of the plea, which requires compliance with the probable cause certificate requirements of section 1237.5 and rule [8.304(b) ]. ( Panizzon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 73, 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 851, 913 P.2d 1061.) In People v. Shelton (2006) 37 Cal.4th 759, 37 Cal.Rptr.3d 354, 125 P.3d 290 ( Shelton ), we held that a defendant's claimthat the sentence imposed by the trial court, which was within the agreed-upon maximum term, violated the multiple punishment prohibition of section 654 constituted an attack upon the validity of the plea and required a certificate of probable cause. The defendant in Shelton had pleaded guilty to two of the charged counts and agreed to a maximum sentence of three years eight months in exchange for dismissal of three other counts, reserving the right to argue for a sentence lower than the maximum but not reserving the right to argue that the agreed-upon maximum was an unauthorized sentence. The trial court sentenced the defendant to the maximum term of three years eight months, imposing the upper term on one count and a consecutive term on the other count. In challenging his sentence pursuant to section 654, the defendant argued that the trial court lacked authority to impose the agreed-upon maximum term. We explained that inclusion of a sentence lid [in a plea agreement] implies a mutual understanding arid agreement that the trial court has authority to impose the specified maximum sentence and preserves only the defendant's right to urge that the trial court should or must exercise its discretion in favor of a shorter term. Accordingly, a challenge to the trial court's authority to impose the lid sentence is a challenge to the validity of the plea requiring a certificate of probable cause. (37 Cal.4th at p. 763, 37 Cal.Rptr.3d 354, 125 P.3d 290.) On the other hand, we have held that the certificate requirement does not apply when the defendant assert[s] only that errors occurred in the ... adversary hearings conducted by the trial court for the purpose of determining the degree of the crime and the penalty to be imposed. ( People v. Ward (1967) 66 Cal.2d 571, 574, 58 Cal.Rptr. 313, 426 P.2d 881.) Accordingly, a certificate of probable cause is not required to challenge the exercise of individualized sentencing discretion within an agreed maximum sentence. Such an agreement, by its nature, contemplates that the court will choose from among a range of permissible sentences within the maximum, and that abuses of this discretionary sentencing authority will be reviewable on appeal, as they would otherwise be. Accordingly, such appellate claims do not constitute an attack on the validity of the plea, for which a certificate is necessary. ( People v. Buttram (2003) 30 Cal.4th 773, 790-791, 134 Cal.Rptr.2d 571, 69 P.3d 420.) A certificate of probable cause is not required in the present case, because defendant's claim does not constitute an attack upon the validity of the plea agreement. In contrast to a case in which the maximum term under the plea agreement would be unlawful under section 654, the Sixth Amendment would not render an upper term unlawful for defendant's crimes under all circumstances. Whether an upper term sentence was permissible for defendant's offenses depended upon whether aggravating factors were established at the sentencing hearing, and not upon the facts of the offenses themselves. Even without a jury trial on aggravating circumstances, the upper term would have been authorized if the prosecution had established an aggravating factor at the sentencing hearing based upon defendant's prior convictions or upon his admissions'. (See People v. Sandoval (2007) 41 Cal.4th 825, 836-837, 62 Cal.Rptr.3d 588, 161 P.3d 1146 ( Sandoval ).) Defendant's claim is that the upper term was not authorized because the prosecution failed to establish an aggravating circumstance at the sentencing hearing in the manner required by the Sixth Amendment. Such a claim does not affect the validity of the plea agreement. Furthermore, we held in Sandoval, supra, 41 Cal.4th at pages 845-852, 62 Cal.Rptr.3d 588, 161 P.3d 1146, that a defendant who has established prejudicial Sixth Amendment error under Cunningham, supra, 549 U.S. ___, 127 S.Ct. 856, is entitled to be resentenced under a scheme in which the trial court has full discretion to impose the upper, middle, or lower term, unconstrained by the requirement that the upper term may not be imposed unless an aggravating circumstance is established. Under our holding in Sandoval, if a defendant is successful in establishing Cunningham error on appeal, the trial court is not precluded from imposing the upper term upon remand for resentencing. The defendant is entitled only to be resentenced under a constitutional scheme and is afforded the opportunity to attempt to persuade the trial court to exercise its discretion to impose a lesser sentence. In contrast to the claims raised in Panizzon and Shelton ( Panizzon, supra, 13 Cal.4th 68, 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 851, 913 P.2d 1061; Shelton, supra, 37 Cal.4th 759, 37 Cal.Rptr.3d 354, 125 P.3d 290), defendant's claim, if successful, would not deprive the People of the benefit of the plea agreement, because they still would have the opportunity to convince the trial court that the full 18-year term should be imposed. Accordingly, defendant is entitled to have his Cunningham claim addressed on appeal.