Opinion ID: 1452188
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Mills v. Municipal Court.

Text: Petitioner Mills instituted the instant proceeding, seeking to have a misdemeanor drunk driving conviction (Veh. Code, § 23102, subd. (a)), entered in the San Diego Municipal Court on April 27, 1971, set aside as constitutionally invalid under Boykin and Tahl. Attached to the petition is a certified copy of the trial court record of the challenged proceeding. The record discloses that on February 9, 1971, an attorney, Stephen Frantz, appeared for defendant Mills at arraignment and entered a plea of not guilty. Thereafter, on April 27, 1971, Frantz again appeared for the defendant, withdrew the plea of not guilty, and entered a plea of nolo contendere to the charge. Time for pronouncement of sentence was waived, and on that same date the court imposed a fine of $350, $150 of which was suspended for three years upon several conditions; [2] the record also notes that the court recommended that defendant's driver's license not be suspended. The record, however, contains no indication that the defendant was aware of his constitutional rights or had been advised of such rights by either his counsel or the court, nor does it reveal that defendant knowingly and voluntarily waived those rights by his guilty plea. [3] One year later, on May 4, 1972, Mills was convicted a second time of misdemeanor drunk driving and, pursuant to Vehicle Code section 13352, subdivision (c), the Department of Motor Vehicles suspended his driver's license for one year. Thereafter, Mills moved in municipal court to set aside his first conviction, contending it was invalid under Boykin and Tahl; after a hearing the motion was denied. Mills then petitioned the Superior Court of San Diego County for a writ directing the municipal court to set aside the conviction, but the court denied the writ on the ground that the Boykin-Tahl rule was not applicable to misdemeanors. Mills thereafter sought a writ of mandate from the Court of Appeal, and, because of the importance of the issue presented that court granted the alternative writ and, after briefing and argument, ultimately reversed the superior court decision. The People (real party in interest) then petitioned this court for a hearing, and because of the statewide significance of the issue we granted a hearing.