Opinion ID: 2606162
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Integrity of Judicial Determinations

Text: Public confidence in the integrity of the judicial system is threatened whenever two tribunals render inconsistent verdicts. ( Taylor, supra, 12 Cal.3d at pp. 695-696.) Undoubtedly, applying collateral estoppel in this case would eliminate the possibility of inconsistency between probation revocation and criminal trial determinations. Consistency, however, is not the sole measure of the integrity of judicial decisions. We must also consider whether eliminating potential inconsistency (by displacing full determination of factual issues in criminal trials) would undermine public confidence in the judicial system. As has the majority of courts in other jurisdictions, we conclude it would. Probation revocation hearings and criminal trials serve different public interests, and different concerns may shape the People's pursuit of revocation and conviction. (See, e.g., Gagnon v. Scarpelli, supra, 411 U.S. at pp. 788-789 [36 L.Ed.2d at p. 665] [there are critical differences between criminal trials and probation or parole revocation hearings, and both society and the probationer or parolee have stakes in preserving these differences]; United States v. Miller, supra, 797 F.2d at p. 342 [The government is not required to complete its entire investigation before seeking to revoke an individual's probation, nor would such a requirement be in society's best interest.].) These differences justify permitting a criminal prosecution to follow a revocation proceeding that results in a judgment adverse to the People. (7a) A probation revocation hearing assesses whether conditions relating to punishment for a prior crime have been violated so that probation should be modifed or revoked; a criminal prosecution seeks conviction for wholly new offenses. (Cf. Standlee v. Rhay (9th Cir.1977) 557 F.2d 1303, 1306-1307.) If the People prevail at the hearing, the result is not a new felony conviction (as it would be were they to prevail at trial on the indecent exposure charge in this case). Rather, if they prevail, the court's discretion is limited to modifying a previously imposed sentence or imposing a new sentence for an earlier conviction. ( People v. Buford (1974) 42 Cal. App.3d 975, 985 [117 Cal. Rptr. 333] [revocation is within sound discretion of the court]; see generally 3 Witkin & Epstein, Cal. Criminal Law (2d ed. 1985) Punishment for Crime, § 1695, p. 2005.) (8) A revocation hearing arises as a continuing consequence of the probationer's original conviction; any sanction imposed at the hearing follows from that crime, not from the substance of new criminal allegations against the probationer. Indeed, because the hearing  despite its obvious importance to both probationer and People  neither threatens the probationer with the stigma of a new conviction nor with punishment other than that to which he was already exposed as a result of his earlier offense, it does not place the probationer in jeopardy. ( In re Coughlin, supra, 16 Cal.3d at p. 61; Chamblin v. Municipal Court, supra, 130 Cal. App.3d at p. 119; United States v. Miller, supra, 797 F.2d at pp. 340-341; see also Breed v. Jones, supra, 421 U.S. at pp. 529-531 [44 L.Ed.2d at pp. 355-357].) (7b) The fundamental role and responsibility of the hearing judge in a revocation proceeding is not to determine whether the probationer is guilty or innocent of a crime, but whether a violation of the terms of probation has occurred and, if so, whether it would be appropriate to allow the probationer to continue to retain his conditional liberty. (See, e.g., People v. Hayko (1970) 7 Cal. App.3d 604, 610 [86 Cal. Rptr. 726].) Because the limited nature of this inquiry may not involve or invoke presentation of all evidence bearing on the underlying factual allegations, the People's failure to satisfy the lower burden of proof at the revocation hearing does not necessarily amount to an acquittal or demonstrate an inability to meet the higher criminal standard of proof. (Cf. United States v. Miller, supra, 797 F.2d at p. 342.) (1d) Given these distinctions between the revocation hearing and a criminal trial, application of collateral estoppel would not serve the public interest in holding probationers accountable for both violation of the terms of their probation and commission of newly alleged crimes. [10] (Cf. In re Dennis B. (1976) 18 Cal.3d 687, 696 [135 Cal. Rptr. 82, 557 P.2d 514] [undeniable state interest in prosecuting serious misdemeanors and felonies must be balanced against degree of harassment caused by successive proceedings].) Preemption of trial of a new charge by a revocation decision designed to perform a wholly independent social and legal task would undermine the function of the criminal trial process as the intended forum for ultimate determinations as to guilt or innocence of newly alleged crimes. (See Cal. Const., art. I, § 14 [Felonies shall be prosecuted as provided by law, either by indictment or, after examination and commitment by a magistrate, by information.]; cf. People v. Fagan, supra, 483 N.Y.S.2d at p. 492 [the distinctions between the two proceedings should not be blurred and their objectives compromised by giving collateral estoppel effect to determinations at parole revocation proceedings].) In this respect, this case is similar to those in which we have held collateral estoppel inapplicable because of differences in the public interests served by former and subsequent proceedings. (See, e.g., Vella v. Hudgins, supra, 20 Cal.3d at p. 258 [resolution of factual issues at unreported unlawful detainer proceeding does not collaterally estop civil relitigation of issues]; People v. Prewitt (1959) 52 Cal.2d 330, 340 [341 P.2d 1], and cases cited therein [dismissal of information or indictment for lack of evidence will not bar a trial based on a subsequent accusatory pleading charging the identical offense].) The juxtaposition of the revocation hearing and a criminal trial is similar to that between a preliminary hearing and a subsequent trial. As here, the People's burden at the preliminary hearing is lower than that at the trial sought to be precluded. Nonetheless, the Legislature has provided that dismissal at the preliminary hearing does not bar the People from refiling the complaint for the same criminal charge. (See § 991, subd. (e).) Although no statutory provision addresses the preclusive effect of probation revocation hearings, the considerations discussed above warrant the same result in this case. It is true, of course, that we have at times applied collateral estoppel principles to preclude criminal trials. (See, e.g., Sims, supra, 32 Cal.3d 468; Taylor, supra, 12 Cal.3d 686 [collateral estoppel applied to preclude retrial of accomplice under theory of vicarious liability, when principal acquitted in former trial].) We have done so, however, only when compelling public policy considerations outweighed the need for determinations of guilt and innocence to be made in the usual criminal trial setting. In Sims, as noted above, we applied collateral estoppel partly on the ground that the unique statutory scheme at issue was intended to essentially resolve issues of criminal guilt and innocence in regard to welfare fraud. ( Sims, supra, 32 Cal.3d at pp. 483, fn. 13 & 489-490.) Our concern here about the overall integrity of the criminal trial process as the intended forum for determinations of guilt and innocence was less at issue in Sims, because the legislative determination about the relationship between the hearing and the criminal trial process deemphasized the role of criminal trials in the overall scheme for resolution of welfare fraud cases. In the present case, by contrast, the Legislature has not indicated a preference that questions of guilt or innocence on criminal charges be litigated in revocation hearings rather than at trial. For this reason, we decline in this context to follow Sims's conclusion that preservation of the integrity of either the judicial system as a whole or the hearing process itself warrants application of collateral estoppel. [11] Similarly, we decline to attribute as much weight in this case as we did in Sims to a need to prevent inconsistent judicial determinations. In Taylor, failure to apply collateral estoppel would have resulted in a fundamentally unfair and logically inconsistent result: conviction of a vicariously liable codefendant even though the alleged principal had been acquitted in an earlier trial on the ground that his conduct did not support a finding of implied malice. ( Taylor, supra, 12 Cal.3d at p. 696 [Few things undermine the layman's faith in the integrity of our legal institutions more than the specter of a system which results in a person being punished for the acts of another, when the actor himself under identical charges had been previously exonerated from responsibility for those very acts.].) Unlike Taylor, in which the outcomes of two proceedings of equal status were in potential conflict, no fundamental unfairness to the probationer would result from a jury verdict contrary to a revocation decision. The differences between revocation hearings and criminal trials outweigh whatever adverse effect inconsistent factual determinations would have on the integrity of the judicial system.