Opinion ID: 1113311
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Repetitious and piecemeal claims.

Text: (9) It has long been the rule that absent a change in the applicable law or the facts, the court will not consider repeated applications for habeas corpus presenting claims previously rejected. (See In re Terry (1971) 4 Cal.3d 911, 921, fn. 1 [95 Cal. Rptr. 31, 484 P.2d 1375]; In re Horowitz (1949) 33 Cal.2d 534, 546 [203 P.2d 513]; In re De La Roi (1946) 28 Cal.2d 264, 275 [169 P.2d 363]; In re Miller (1941) 17 Cal.2d 734, 735 [112 P2d 10].) The court has also refused to consider newly presented grounds for relief which were known to the petitioner at the time of a prior collateral attack on the judgment. (See In re Horowitz, supra, 33 Cal.2d 534, 546-547; In re Drew (1922) 188 Cal. 717, 722 [207 P. 249].) The rule was stated clearly in In re Connor, supra, 16 Cal.2d 701, 705: In this state a defendant is not permitted to try out his contentions piecemeal by successive proceedings attacking the validity of the judgment against him. These procedural bars to habeas corpus relief have been termed discretionary, however (see In re Terry, supra, 4 Cal.3d 911, 921. fn. 1; In re Bevill (1968) 68 Cal.2d 854, 863, fn. 9 [69 Cal. Rptr. 599, 442 P.2d 679]), and have been described as a policy of the court. (See In re Horowitz, supra, 33 Cal.2d 534, 546.) And, while In re Horowitz, supra, 33 Cal.2d 534, In re Connor, supra, 16 Cal.2d 701, 705, and In re Drew, supra, 188 Cal. 717, condemned piecemeal presentation of claims, none expressly noted the problem of belated presentation of claims that may not have been identified, but with due diligence should have been known to the petitioner and presented in an earlier petition. On occasion, the merits of successive petitions have been considered regardless of whether the claim was raised on appeal or in a prior petition, and without consideration of whether the claim could and should have been presented in a prior petition. (See In re Walker, supra, 10 Cal.3d 764; In re Crumpton (1973) 9 Cal.3d 463, 467 [106 Cal. Rptr. 770, 507 P.2d 74], In re Terry, supra, 4 Cal.3d 911; In re Bevill, supra, 68 Cal.2d 854.) Our past decisions have thereby suggested that the rules against piecemeal presentation of claims and repetitious petitions are subject to undefined exceptions and that the court may be willing to entertain multiple collateral attacks on a judgment notwithstanding the potential for abusive writ practice. As a result, many prisoners present petitions raising claims that are or should be barred. They do so either in the hope that this court will find their claims sufficiently compelling to justify an exception to the rules, or because the possibility that this court will excuse a procedural default makes the petition a necessity in order to exhaust the petitioners' state remedies for purposes of review in federal court. Respondent Director of the Department of Corrections, noting the uncertainty created by our past practice, asks us to identify with greater precision the circumstances which will justify departure from the usual limitations on availability of the writ identified above. [8] He argues that the court already has or should adopt a cause and prejudice rule like that applicable in the federal court to successive petitions. Under that rule a petitioner must show cause for the procedural default and prejudice attributable thereto ( Murray v. Carrier (1986) 477 U.S. 478, 485 [91 L.Ed.2d 397, 406-407, 106 S.Ct. 2639]) to obtain review of a defaulted claim. (See also McCleskey v. Zant, supra, 499 U.S. 467 [113 L.Ed.2d 517, 111 S.Ct. 1454].) Under that approach, no claims which the petitioner failed to include in the initial habeas corpus petition would be considered unless the petitioner demonstrates (1) diligence in pursuing investigation of potential claims, (2) some external cause for the failure to raise them in the prior petition, and (3) prejudice resulting from the error of which he or she complains. Petitioner argues that this court does not have an abuse of the writ doctrine and should not follow the lead of the federal court in restricting successive habeas corpus petitions. (10)(See fn. 9.) He contends that section 1475 (discussed post ) and sound policy mandate that the court consider successive petitions on their merits not only when the petition alleges a change in the applicable law or facts, but in any case in which no order to show cause issued on a prior petition or petitions. [9] We are not persuaded that either section 1475 or sound policy mandates or warrants consideration of unjustified successive collateral attacks on a judgment of conviction.
(11a) This court has never condoned abusive writ practice or repetitious collateral attacks on a final judgment. Entertaining the merits of successive petitions is inconsistent with our recognition that delayed and repetitious presentation of claims is an abuse of the writ. It is the policy of this court to deny an application for habeas corpus which is based upon grounds urged in a prior petition which has been denied, where there is shown no change in the facts or the law substantially affecting the rights of the petitioner. [Citations.] And as to the presentation of new grounds based on matters known to the petitioner at the time of previous attacks upon the judgment, in In re Drew (1922) 188 Cal. 717, 722 [207 P. 249], it was pointed out that the applicant for habeas corpus `not only had his day in court to attack the validity of this judgment, but ... had several such days, on each of which he could have urged this objection, but did not do so'; it was held that `The petitioner cannot be allowed to present his reasons against the validity of the judgment against him piecemeal by successive proceedings for the same general purpose.' ( In re Horowitz, supra, 33 Cal.2d 534, 546-547.) When a habeas corpus petition is denied on the merits, the court has determined that the claims made in that petition do not state a prima facie case entitling the petitioner to relief. A successive petition presenting additional claims that could have been presented in an earlier attack on the judgment is, of necessity, a delayed petition. Petitioner offers no persuasive reason for routinely permitting consideration of the merits of such claims. Were we to do so we would sanction a practice which unreasonably delays execution of judgment and imposes undue burdens on the state both in responding to claims made in delayed petitions and in marshalling stale evidence when retrial is necessary. Successive petitions also waste scarce judicial resources as the court must repeatedly review the record of the trial in order to assess the merits of the petitioner's claims and assess the prejudicial impact of the constitutional deprivation of which he complains. Willingness by the court to entertain the merits of successive petitions seeking relief on the basis of the same set of facts undermines the finality of the judgment. Moreover, such piecemeal litigation prevents the positive values of deterrence, certainty, and public confidence from attaching to the judgment. The values that inhere in a final judgment are equally threatened by petitions for collateral relief raising claims that could have been raised in a prior petition.
Section 1475 does not alter our conclusion that such petitions may and should be denied. Section 1475 does not limit the court's power to decline to consider successive petitions on their merits. The court may require an explanation for the failure to include the claim or claims on which such petitions are based in the prior petition โ a justification sufficient to outweigh the importance of finality of judgments and to justify the imposition on the court of the burden of reviewing multiple petitions, each of which presents claims of prejudicial error or conduct and demands repeated reviews of the record of the trial proceedings. The legislative purpose underlying section 1475 is to control abuses of the writ and thereby spare courts with jurisdiction over habeas corpus petitions the burden of repetitious petitions. It now provides in pertinent part: If the writ has been granted by any court or a judge thereof and after the hearing thereof the prisoner has been remanded, he shall not be discharged from custody by the same or any other court of like general jurisdiction, unless upon some ground not existing in fact at the issuing of the prior writ. Should the prisoner desire to urge some point of law not raised in the petition for or at the hearing upon the return of the prior writ, then, in case such prior writ had been returned or returnable before a superior court or a judge thereof, no writ can be issued upon a second or other application except by the appropriate court of appeal or some judge thereof, or by the Supreme Court or some judge thereof, and in such an event such writ must not be made returnable before any superior court or any judge thereof. In the event, however, that the prior writ was returned or made returnable before a court of appeal or any judge thereof, no writ can be issued upon a second or other application except by the Supreme Court or some judge thereof, and such writ must be made returnable before said Supreme Court or some judge thereof. (ง 1475.) (12)(See fn. 10.) Petitioner notes that this provision bars repeated applications to the same level of court only when a petition raises the same issue as a prior petition and only if a writ issued [10] in response to the prior petition. He assumes on that basis that the Legislature has implicitly permitted successive petitions raising new claims or repeated applications for relief on the same ground if no writ or order to show cause has issued and there has been no hearing on the claim or claims. The history of section 1475 suggests otherwise. The statute does not compel courts to consider successive petitions on their merits, nor does it purport to restrict the court's inherent power to control its calendar and prevent abuse of the writ. Section 1475 was initially codified in 1872 as part of the Penal Code of 1872. The Penal Code reenacted the preexisting statutes implementing the inherent and constitutional authority of a court of record to grant the writ (Stats. 1863, ch. 260, p. 334; Stats. 1859, ch. 19, p. 15), and restricted the authority of the county courts to issuance of the writ on petitions by persons located within the county. [11] That restriction, however, reflected the initial legislative attempt to control abuse of the writ, and the recognition that this court had already been forced to impose judicial restrictions to curb judgeshopping and repetitious petitions. This court first attempted to do so in Ex parte Ellis (1858) 11 Cal. 222. Ellis, who had been convicted of a misdemeanor in El Dorado County, sought a writ returnable before the Supreme Court. The act concerning the writ of habeas corpus (Stats. 1850, ch. 122, p. 334) then provided that the writ might be granted by the Supreme Court, any judge of the court, or any district or county court or any judge of those courts, and required that it issue without delay and be heard immediately after the return. The court noted the frequency with which applications for the writ are made to this tribunal on the part of persons in custody in other counties ( Ex parte Ellis, supra, 11 Cal. at p. 223), and undertook a construction of the statute which restricted issuance of the writ to the county in which the petitioner was held. We reasoned that the Legislature could not have contemplated giving a misdemeanant the privilege of selecting from the judiciary of the whole State the individual to whom he prefers to make his application or allowing a petitioner to make applications to judges of other counties. Construing the statute in that manner would lead to possible injustice, contradiction and absurdity. ( Id., at p. 224.) Therefore, we held, the writ should not be issued to run out of the county unless the local judge refused or was unable to act. This secures the right of a citizen and of the people, and deprives a process intended to be used for beneficial purposes of the power to injure the public interests by possible escapes, and delays, and onerous costs. The mere caprice of the prisoner ought not to prevail against the interests of the people and the public convenience. ( Id., at p. 225.) An 1862 amendment of the Constitution of 1849 and inclusion of this restriction in section 1475 when the Penal Code was adopted in 1872 were not sufficient to control abuse, however. The Legislature deemed it necessary to amend section 1475 in 1905 and again in 1907 (see Stats. 1905, ch. 544, ง 1, p. 706; Stats. 1907, ch. 286, ง 1, p. 560) to curb continuing abuse of the writ. [12] Because the denial of a petition for writ of habeas corpus was not appealable and a ruling denying a petition is not res judicata as to the issues raised ( Matter of Ring (1865) 28 Cal. 247, 251; Matter of Perkins (1852) 2 Cal. 424, 430), the courts continued to be burdened with successive petitions. The Legislature therefore acted to restrict petitions presented to the same level of court that had heard and rejected a prior petition, unless the petition stated a basis for relief that had not existed when the prior petition was denied. [13] (11b) We have never construed section 1475 as a grant of authority for the filing of any successive petition not expressly barred by the statute, however, and have continuously exercised our authority to protect the courts from imposition on their duties by repetitious writ petitions. Chief Justice Beatty did so in Ex parte Mogenson (1907) 151 Cal. 517 [91 P. 334], shortly after the 1907 amendment of section 1475, explaining that he deemed it necessary to curb attempts to have a single justice of this court exercise habeas corpus jurisdiction to overrule a ruling of the Court of Appeal on a prior petition: The authority of one justice of this court to make a writ of habeas corpus issued by himself returnable before the whole court was formerly exercised with great freedom โ so much freedom, indeed, as to result in a serious detriment to the more important business of the court. It was a favorite method with certain practitioners to present their petitions to some one justice, and often to several different justices in succession, asking for a writ returnable before the court, and if they could get the writ allowed in that way the whole court would be compelled on the day named in the writ to drop all other business for the purpose of hearing the return to a petition which would never have been granted if the court or a quorum of the justices had been consulted beforehand.... [ถ] ... The effect of [the 1907 amendment of section 1475], as I understand it, is to put an end to the practice heretofore prevailing of going from one judge to another of no greater authority with the same petition for a writ of habeas corpus, in order to secure from one relief that has been denied by another.... [ถ] As I construe ... the section, it does not mean that after the district court of appeal has by the unanimous decision of the three judges remanded a prisoner on habeas corpus a single justice of this court may issue a new writ upon a similar petition, returnable before himself, and upon the hearing overrule the decision of the district court of appeal and discharge the prisoner. (151 Cal. at pp. 518-519.) When similar abuses continued in the form of petitions to a single justice of this court after denial of an earlier petition by the entire court, Chief Justice Angellotti extended the restriction to those petitions as well, even in cases in which no writ had issued, and intimated that successive petitions would not be entertained routinely by the court itself: Not only was such [prior] application in regard to the same detention or restraint, but the grounds of the former application were the same as those now urged, with a greater degree of elaboration. While it may be that under certain circumstances the court itself might feel warranted in entertaining a second application from a party regarding the same detention or restraint, it is manifest that no single member of the court, be he chief justice or associate justice, is warranted in granting a writ where the same has been denied as to the same detention or restraint by the whole court in Bank. ( Matter of Udell (1915) 171 Cal. 599, 600 [154 P. 23].) (11c) It is clear from these and the subsequent decisions of this court noted above, which have created additional limitations on petitions for writs of habeas corpus, that section 1475 has never been construed as the sole limitation on successive petitions and that the Legislature has not by the enactment of that section attempted to compel this court to entertain such petitions on their merits. As noted above, the court has emphasized that repetitious successive petitions are not permitted and, in In re Horowitz, supra, 33 Cal.2d 534, 546-547, In re Connor, supra, 16 Cal.2d 701, 705, and In re Drew, supra, 188 Cal. 717, 722, has condemned piecemeal presentation of known claims. Those decisions reflect policies that supplement legislative restrictions on habeas corpus; they also have as their purpose a curb on abuse of the writ of habeas corpus. Before a successive petition will be entertained on its merits the petitioner must explain and justify the failure to present claims in a timely manner in his prior petition or petitions.