Opinion ID: 1145275
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Ex Post Facto Principles Are Inapplicable Here.

Text: The majority assertedly declines a retroactive application of Proposition 8 in order to avoid doubts regarding the constitutionality of the measure as applied to crimes committed prior to its adoption. ( Ante, p. 262.) With due respect to my colleagues, I suggest that the point is clearly frivolous. California cases, including our own, have uniformly held that ex post facto principles are not violated by the retroactive application of a statute which merely alters evidentiary rules by permitting the admission of previously inadmissible or incompetent evidence, and which does not lessen the amount or measure of the proof previously necessary to convict. ( People v. Bradford (1969) 70 Cal.2d 333, 343-344, fn. 5 [74 Cal. Rptr. 726, 450 P.2d 46]; People v. Ward (1958) 50 Cal.2d 702, 710 [328 P.2d 777]; People v. Sobiek (1973) 30 Cal. App.3d 458, 473 [106 Cal. Rptr. 519].) A fortiori, a constitutional change in evidentiary rules does not invoke ex post facto principles. Moreover, it should be borne in mind that, despite the majority's sweeping pronouncements and dicta regarding the retroactive effect of Proposition 8 as a whole, we deal here only with the application of the truth-in-evidence portion of the measure, embodied in new article I, section 28, subdivision (d), of our state Constitution. The sole effect of this provision is to permit the admission of relevant evidence in criminal proceedings. Under the foregoing authorities, such constitutional enactment properly may be given retroactive effect in cases not yet final. Thus, in Ward we considered whether an amendment to the death penalty laws which permitted the introduction at the penalty phase of evidence in aggravation or mitigation of the offense (former Pen. Code, § 190.1) could be applied to a defendant whose offense occurred prior to its adoption. As in the present case, defendant in Ward argued that evidence of his jail and juvenile court records would have been inadmissible prior to the amendment and, accordingly, that the change in procedure altered the situation to his substantial detriment and constituted the enactment of an ex post facto law. (50 Cal.2d at p. 708.) In flatly rejecting his argument, we observed that Changes of a similar nature had heretofore been approved as not constituting ex post facto laws in this state, and discussed several California and federal cases on the subject, including Thompson v. Missouri (1898) 171 U.S. 380 [43 L.Ed. 204, 18 S.Ct. 922]. ( Id., at pp. 708-709.) Thompson had held that we cannot perceive any ground upon which to hold a statute to be ex post facto which does nothing more than admit evidence of a particular kind in a criminal case ... which was not admissible under the rules of evidence ... at the time the offense was committed. (P. 386 [43 L.Ed.2d at p. 207].) Similarly, in People v. Bradford, supra, 70 Cal.2d 333, we again relied upon Thompson in concluding that changes in the rules of evidence which broaden the class of persons competent to testify are not deemed ex post facto in operation. (Pp. 343-344, fn. 5.) In Bradford, the defendant's spouse was permitted to testify over his objection by reason of the adoption of Evidence Code section 970, a provision which was not in effect when the offense was committed. We again rejected defendant's claim that the new statute could not be retroactively applied under ex post facto principles. In light of our own holdings in Ward and Bradford, and the high court's ruling in Thompson, it cannot fairly be said that the issue is so fraught with uncertainties ( ante, p. 262) as to require a prospective application of Proposition 8. In my view, the lesson taught by the foregoing line of cases is crystal clear: Although the new law cannot permit a criminal conviction to be obtained with less evidence than was required when the act was committed, the new law properly may ease prior evidentiary restrictions, thereby permitting the admission of more relevant evidence than previously was allowed. The people's manifest intent in adopting new article I, section 28, subdivision (d), was to erase California's exclusionary rule as soon as constitutionally permissible. There is no constitutional impediment whatever to a retroactive application of the new provision with respect to criminal cases not yet final. Although we created the state exclusionary rule it ill behooves us to frustrate or delay its removal by the people themselves. I would affirm the judgment.