Opinion ID: 1129010
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Whether People v. Anderson, supra, 6 Cal.3d 628, Affects Petitioner's Case

Text: It has been suggested that under People v. Anderson, supra, 6 Cal.3d 628, petitioner's death sentence for the murder was invalid when it was imposed and the only legally authorized penalty for that crime was therefore life imprisonment (see Pen. Code, § 190), that the Governor's action thus increased the punishment by adding the condition without possibility of parole and may not reasonably be considered a commutation of the sentence within the meaning of former article VII, section 1, of our state Constitution, and that therefore petitioner should be deemed to have been serving a term of life imprisonment with possibility of parole from the time of his prison arrival in 1947. (24) The foregoing suggestion is based on a misconception of this court's position in Anderson. Anderson concluded that the death penalty is both cruel and unusual punishment (Cal. Const., art. I, § 6), and that the judgment in that case, insofar as it provided for the death penalty, should therefore be modified to provide for life imprisonment (the only alternative punishment provided by the Legislature for the crime there in question, namely, first degree murder (see Pen. Code, §§ 190, 190.1)). Anderson declared that today's decision is fully retroactive, [15] but the quoted statement does not mean that the death penalty has always been unconstitutional, as is apparent from the reasoning of this court in Anderson. It was there reasoned (at p. 650) that  Judged by contemporary standards of decency, capital punishment is impressibly cruel and that such punishment  is now, literally  an unusual punishment in view of the worldwide trend toward the abolition of capital punishment and the fact that the death sentence is rarely imposed in California and even more rarely carried out. (Italics added.) (25) At the time the death penalty was imposed for petitioner that penalty was constitutional for first degree murder (see e.g., People v. Thomas, 65 Cal.2d 698, 708 [56 Cal. Rptr. 305, 423 P.2d 233] [cert. den., 389 U.S. 868 (19 L.Ed.2d 143, 88 S.Ct. 140)]; People v. Bashor, supra, 48 Cal.2d 763, 765; People v. Lazarus, 207 Cal. 507, 514 [279 P. 145]), and the commutation to life without possibility of parole was within the Governor's power (see former art. VII, § 1, Cal. Const.). It does not follow, however, that petitioner is entitled to no relief under Anderson. Anderson concluded that Penal Code sections 190 and 190.1, which provide for the punishment of death or life imprisonment for first degree murder, are unconstitutional insofar as they purport to authorize the imposition of the death penalty. Thus since Anderson the only valid punishment authorized by these sections for first degree murder is life imprisonment. And Anderson is fully retroactive. (See fn. 15, ante. ) Accordingly, any first degree murderer now subject to a greater sentence than life imprisonment for that offense may seek habeas corpus to have the sentence modified to life imprisonment if the judgment is final. The statement in Anderson (p. 657, fn. 45) that  any prisoner now under a sentence of death ... may [seek modification of the] judgment to provide for the appropriate alternative punishment ... (italics added; see fn. 15, ante ) does not indicate that prisoners whose death penalties have been commuted to a term greater than the alternative provided by statute for the offense for which the death sentence was imposed may not obtain modification of their sentences. Rather the italicized words merely specify one type of prisoner who is entitled to relief under Anderson. It manifestly would be inequitable to hold that, although murderers now under sentences of death may have their sentences reduced to life imprisonment (which is with possibility of parole (see Pen. Code, § 3046)), murderers such as petitioner whose death sentences have been commuted to life imprisonment without possibility of parole are not entitled to have that restriction removed from their life sentences. The two groups are identical except that prisoners in the latter group have had their sentences commuted, not unlikely as a result of circumstances in mitigation of the offense. And no considerations have led us to conclude that such inequities should be permitted. (26) Petitioner asserts that the Solano County Superior Court, rather than the Adult Authority, should determine whether he should be released on parole. We do not agree. In California the parole power is vested in the Adult Authority. (Pen. Code, §§ 5077, 3040.) The order granting the writ of habeas corpus is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Solano County Superior Court for further proceedings not inconsistent with the views expressed herein. Petitioner's sentence of life imprisonment without possibility of parole for the murder is modified by the deletion of the italicized words. Petitioner is therefore entitled to apply to the Adult Authority for parole and to have his application duly considered.