Opinion ID: 1127349
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: The Special-circumstance-phase Issue: The Trial Court's Denial of the Motion to Strike the Special Circumstance Allegation of a Prior Murder Conviction

Text: (24a) After the commencement of the guilt phase of the trial, the defense filed a motion to strike the special circumstance allegation of defendant's 1973 murder conviction, asserting that numerous alleged errors of federal constitutional dimension rendered that conviction constitutionally invalid. The hearing on the motion was held shortly before the close of the guilt phase. In support of the motion, defense counsel submitted segments of transcripts of the earlier case, establishing that in 1971, proceedings were instituted in the juvenile division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, in the State of Illinois, charging defendant (then 16 years of age) and 3 codefendants with the gang-related murder of another youth. Thereafter, defendant, as well as his three codefendants, was found to be unsuitable for prosecution as a juvenile, and the proceedings were transferred to the criminal division of the court. The public defender was appointed to represent defendant but, after a determination that there was a potential conflict among the interests of the four defendants, was relieved of appointment as counsel for three of the defendants. Mr. Joseph Malek, a private attorney, was appointed to represent defendant. The record indicates that Malek's total compensation for his representation of defendant in the Illinois trial proceedings was $250. The trial of two of the defendants was severed from that of defendant and codefendant Golden. Golden was represented by Attorney Charles Nixon. Malek did not present any witnesses to testify on behalf of defendant. Counsel for codefendant Golden, however, presented several witnesses, some of whom provided an alibi defense for Golden. At the conclusion of the trial, defendant was convicted of murder and Golden was acquitted of that charge. [11] In the present California proceedings, at the hearing on defendant's motion to strike, defense counsel asserted numerous violations of defendant's constitutional rights in the Illinois proceedings, as follows: (1) failure to provide a constitutionally adequate fitness hearing; (2) denial of the right to counsel at the juvenile proceedings, during plea negotiations, and at critical stages of the trial; (3) speedy trial violations; (4) violation of the right to unconflicted counsel; and (5) ineffective assistance of counsel. He also asserted that, as a result of these numerous errors, the prior proceedings resulted in a miscarriage of justice. With respect to the claim of denial of counsel at the juvenile proceedings, the defense submitted a declaration of defendant stating that following his arrest, in the juvenile proceedings, defendant never spoke to an attorney and to his knowledge had not been appointed counsel. An addendum subsequently filed by the defense, however, reflected that in fact defendant did have counsel in those proceedings  a public defender had been appointed to represent defendant along with his three codefendants. Defense counsel maintained, however, that the circumstance of the public defender's having represented defendant as well as his codefendants  at the juvenile proceedings and for a short period at the outset of the criminal proceedings  supported the claim of denial of defendant's right to counsel unencumbered by a conflict of interest. In support of the claim of denial of counsel in plea negotiations, defendant stated, among other matters, that during jury deliberations at a time when his appointed counsel, Malek, was absent, counsel for codefendant Golden conveyed to defendant a proposed plea agreement that had been offered by the district attorney, an offer defendant rejected because of his belief he was not guilty. The defense submitted additional segments of transcripts of the Illinois proceedings, indicating the absence of his appointed attorney, Malek, at various stages of the proceedings. The most serious absence reflected by the partial record occurred at trial, after the case had been submitted to the jury for deliberation. At the time the case was submitted, Malek, apparently anticipating the possibility that the jury would in fact return a verdict the following day, requested that the court permit counsel for codefendant Golden (Charles Nixon) to stand in for him in the event the jury returned a verdict. Malek explained: Judge, I ask Mr. Horton if it's okay to excuse my presence tomorrow at the time the jury comes back with their verdict. He indicated he would. So, Mr. Nixon will stand in my stead when the verdict is returned, is that okay? [¶] [The Court:] Yes. [Defendant Horton:] Yes. [¶] [Mr. Nixon:] And, Mr. Malek, do you want me, if there should be an adverse finding as to your client, to poll the jury on your behalf and his behalf. [¶] [Mr. Malek:] Sure, please. The transcript indicated that the following day, March 28, Malek made a brief appearance in court in the morning and indicated to the court that he would return by 3:30 p.m. Malek did not return, however. The jury deliberated throughout the day without reaching a verdict. At 4:30 p.m., outside the presence of the jury, the trial court, noting Malek's absence, announced its intention to poll the jury regarding whether they were able to reach a verdict, and stated that in the event the jury indicated they were deadlocked the court would instruct them pursuant to the Illinois version of the dynamite instruction. When the jurors returned to the courtroom, they indicated, in response to the court's polling of individual jurors, that they would be unable to reach a unanimous verdict even if permitted additional time to deliberate. Noting that the jury had indicated they would not be able to reach a verdict even with additional time, the court stated that it was going to declare a mistrial because the resumption of deliberations wouldn't serve any purpose. The prosecutor objected. When Nixon also objected to the court declaring a mistrial, the court asked the two attorneys who were present: Do you want them to deliberate longer? Do you want me to read the instruction? Nixon clarified that he maintained his objection to the dynamite charge. The trial court thereupon granted the joint request of the prosecutor and Nixon not to declare a mistrial and instead ordered the jury to return for further deliberations, additionally instructing the jury in accordance with the Illinois version of the dynamite charge. A few hours later, at 8 p.m., the jury returned a verdict convicting defendant of murder and acquitting codefendant Golden of that charge. [12] In the instant proceedings the People presented no evidence in opposition to defendant's motion to strike the Illinois prior conviction. At the hearing on the motion to strike, the trial court observed that the partial transcripts submitted as exhibits to the motion to strike did reflect irregularities in the Illinois proceedings that had led to defendant's conviction. The trial court nevertheless indicated its view that it was not required to examine whether any of these irregularities constituted a prejudicial violation of defendant's constitutional rights, undermining the constitutional validity of the Illinois conviction, because these claims either were raised, or could have been raised, on appeal of the Illinois conviction, and an Illinois appellate court apparently had affirmed the conviction on appeal. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court denied defendant's motion to strike the prior-murder-conviction special-circumstance allegation. Defendant contends that the record of the Illinois court proceedings submitted in support of the motion to strike established a prima facie showing as to the constitutional invalidity of the conviction and that, in the absence of a request by the prosecution for an evidentiary hearing, or any evidence in opposition to defendant's prima facie showing, the trial court erred in denying the motion to strike the special circumstance allegation. This error, defendant contends, requires that the prior-murder-conviction special-circumstance finding be vacated, and that the judgment be set aside in its entirety. Defendant moved to strike the prior-murder-conviction special-circumstance allegation pursuant to People v. Coffey (1967) 67 Cal.2d 204 [60 Cal. Rptr. 457, 430 P.2d 15] and People v. Sumstine (1984) 36 Cal.3d 909 [206 Cal. Rptr. 707, 687 P.2d 904]. (25a) These decisions establish the procedures for raising a collateral attack on a prior conviction by a defendant whose sentence is subject to enhancement because of the prior conviction. (See generally, Leake, Limits to the Collateral Use of Invalid Prior Convictions to Enhance Punishment for a Subsequent Offense: Extending Burgett v. Texas and United States v. Tucker (1987) 19 Colum. Hum. Rts. L.Rev. 123.) This type of collateral attack does not serve to vacate or otherwise extinguish a judgment of conviction, or relieve a defendant from the sentence imposed for the underlying conviction, but rather, if successful, prevents its use by the prosecution in a subsequent proceeding to enhance the punishment for a current offense. Coffey and Sumstine had their genesis in a group of California cases holding that prior, uncounseled convictions obtained in violation of Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) 372 U.S. 335 [9 L.Ed.2d 799, 83 S.Ct. 792, 93 A.L.R.2d 733] were invalid and could not be used for a sentence enhancement purpose. ( In re Woods (1966) 64 Cal.2d 3 [48 Cal. Rptr. 689, 409 P.2d 913]; In re Luce (1966) 64 Cal.2d 11 [48 Cal. Rptr. 694, 409 P.2d 918]; In re Tucker (1966) 64 Cal.2d 15 [48 Cal. Rptr. 697, 409 P.2d 921].) In Woods, a defendant who had been convicted of robbery in 1959, and had been found at that time to be an habitual criminal based upon four earlier convictions, sought habeas corpus relief from the final judgment determining his habitual offender status. In the habeas corpus petition, which was filed in 1965, the defendant collaterally attacked each of the prior convictions on the ground that, in each instance in which he had entered a plea of guilty, he neither was advised of his right to, nor was provided with, nor expressly waived, counsel. He argued that under Gideon v. Wainwright, supra, 372 U.S. 335 (a case not decided until several years after his admission of the priors in the 1959 prosecution for robbery), his prior convictions were invalid, and, as a consequence, their use in the determination of habitual criminality was improper. The court in Woods granted the relief requested, observing that, although courts might find it difficult to determine whether defendants tried in the remote past were denied the assistance of counsel, in that `[r]ecords may be stale, incomplete, or missing, and it may hence be difficult accurately to reconstruct events at prosecutions long ago and far away,' nevertheless the fundamental nature of the right protected by Gideon required the court to entertain the subsequent collateral challenge. ( In re Woods, supra, 64 Cal.2d at p. 6.) The court in Woods explained in this regard: While we have heretofore limited our examination of foreign convictions used to establish habitual criminality to a consideration of the crime relative to the categories established by [Penal Code] section 644 [citations], and to the determination of whether the rendering court had jurisdiction to try the defendant [citations], we here determine that comity does not require, and reason does not allow, a refusal to examine for constitutional defects foreign judgments used in this state to support an adjudication of habitual criminal status. `To the extent that any State makes its penal sanctions depend in part on the fact of prior convictions elsewhere, necessarily it must assume the burden of meeting attacks on the constitutionality of such prior convictions.' [Citation.] (64 Cal.2d at p. 5.) In People v. Coffey, supra, 67 Cal.2d 204, this court held that a defendant need not wait until final judgment, as was done in Woods, to challenge the constitutional validity of an uncounseled prior conviction, but could raise the collateral challenge by a pretrial motion to strike the prior conviction at the trial of a subsequent offense. (67 Cal.2d at pp. 214-215.) Citing Woods and other decisions granting habeas corpus relief and setting aside final judgments on similar constitutional grounds, the court in Coffey determined that it was clearly in the interest of efficient judicial administration that attacks upon the constitutional basis of prior convictions be disposed of at the earliest possible opportunity.... ( Id. at p. 215.) The court held that a clear allegation to the effect that, in the proceedings leading to the prior conviction under attack, the defendant ` neither was represented by counsel nor waived the right to be so represented, ' would justify a hearing in the trial court for the purpose of determining whether, in the prior proceedings, the defendant was accorded his right to counsel under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments. (67 Cal.2d at p. 215, italics in original.) Just a few months after this court's decision in Coffey, the United States Supreme Court rendered a parallel decision. In Burgett v. Texas (1967) 389 U.S. 109 [19 L.Ed.2d 319, 88 S.Ct. 258] the high court held that a prior conviction invalid under Gideon's interpretation of the right to counsel could not be employed to invoke a recidivist offender statute that operated to enhance punishment. The court in Burgett stressed the adverse effects on the right to counsel that would ensue, were the court to permit the use of uncounseled prior convictions as the predicates for recidivist penalties: an erosion of the principle established in Gideon, and a renewed injury resulting from the deprivation of the right to counsel. (389 U.S. at p. 115 [19 L.Ed.2d at pp. 324-325].) Subsequently, in United States v. Tucker (1972) 404 U.S. 443 [30 L.Ed.2d 592, 92 S.Ct. 589] the high court added a further limitation on the use of prior convictions to enhance punishment, by prohibiting the consideration of prior felony convictions invalid under Gideon as a factor in sentencing upon a subsequent conviction. [13] In People v. Sumstine, supra, 36 Cal.3d 909, 914, this court held that a defendant may attack the validity of a prior conviction alleged as a sentence enhancement by a pretrial motion to strike, authorized by Coffey, on the ground of an alleged Boykin/Tahl violation ( Boykin v. Alabama (1969) 395 U.S. 238 [23 L.Ed.2d 274, 89 S.Ct. 1709]; In re Tahl (1969) 1 Cal.3d 122 [81 Cal. Rptr. 577, 460 P.2d 449]) occurring at the time of his or her plea of guilty to the prior offense. Although noting the language in Coffey, appearing to limit the cognizable grounds for such a collateral attack to a Gideon violation of the right to counsel, the court in Sumstine perceived no principled basis for allowing a defendant to challenge a prior conviction on the ground that it was obtained in violation of his right to counsel but not on the ground that it was obtained in violation of other constitutional rights, and thus held that [a] Boykin/Tahl challenge is equally permissible. (36 Cal.3d at p. 919, fn. omitted.) The court in Sumstine ultimately denied the relief sought, however, concluding the defendant's failure to allege an actual denial of his constitutional rights, and mere reliance upon the silence of the record in this regard, were fatal to his claim. (36 Cal.3d at pp. 922-924.) In Curl v. Superior Court (1990) 51 Cal.3d 1292 [276 Cal. Rptr. 49, 801 P.2d 292] (decided subsequent to the trial in the present case) the court held that a capital defendant may challenge the constitutional validity of a prior murder conviction, alleged as a special circumstance, by a pretrial motion to strike the special circumstance allegation in accordance with the procedures recognized in Coffey and Sumstine. In Curl, the defendant alleged in support of the motion to strike that, at the time he entered a plea of guilty to the prior murder charge, he was not properly advised of his rights pursuant to Boykin/Tahl, and was under the influence of drugs that rendered his waiver of rights and entry of plea involuntary and constitutionally defective. (51 Cal.3d at p. 1304.) The court in Curl concluded that the evidence introduced by the People at the pretrial hearing effectively rebutted the defendant's claim that his plea was constitutionally defective. ( Id. at pp. 1304-1305.) Defendant contends that under Coffey, Sumstine, and Curl, the trial court in the present case erred in its analysis and disposition of defendant's motion to strike the alleged prior-murder-conviction special circumstance. Defendant contends the trial court's ruling demonstrates that the court did not properly recognize that the prior conviction could be challenged for any constitutional defect  including denial of the right to counsel at a critical stage of the criminal proceedings  that undermined its constitutional validity. While this case was pending on appeal, the United States Supreme Court rendered a decision in Custis v. United States (1994) ___ U.S. ___ [128 L.Ed.2d 517, 114 S.Ct. 1732] ( Custis ), in which the court examined the circumstances under which a defendant, in the course of the sentencing phase of a federal criminal proceeding, may raise a constitutional challenge to an alleged prior conviction. We requested supplemental briefing from the parties with regard to the relevance, if any, of the Custis decision to the present case. Defendant contends Custis was based upon the language of the applicable federal statute and simply sets forth a rule of federal criminal procedure; accordingly, defendant maintains, Custis has no direct application to the state law rule of procedure set forth in Coffey, Sumstine, and Curl. The Attorney General, while recognizing that Custis involved only a question of federal law, urges us to follow the rationale of that decision and significantly limit the bases upon which a defendant in a California criminal proceeding may challenge the constitutional validity of a prior conviction that is alleged as a special circumstance or for purposes of sentence enhancement. As we shall explain, we conclude that the Custis decision does not govern our determination of the issue presented in the case at bar. In Custis, supra, ___ U.S. ___ [128 L.Ed.2d 517, 114 S.Ct. 1732], the United States Supreme Court narrowly restricted the grounds upon which a defendant may collaterally attack the validity of a prior conviction in the course of a federal sentencing proceeding. In that case, Custis was charged with federal drug and firearm offenses. In federal district court, after Custis was convicted of one of the charges as well as a lesser included offense of another charge, the prosecutor sought to enhance his sentence under 18 United States Code section 924(e)(1) by relying upon three prior state felony convictions. Custis challenged the use of two of the prior convictions in the enhancement proceeding on the grounds they were obtained in violation of Boykin and of his right to the effective assistance of counsel. The high court affirmed the rulings of the district court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, both of which had denied relief to Custis, the high court holding that the federal statute upon which Custis had based his challenge did not authorize collateral attacks upon prior convictions. Custis argued that, even if the statute did not authorize collateral attacks, the federal Constitution required that he be afforded some means in the sentence enhancement proceeding by which he could challenge the validity of his prior convictions. The United States Supreme Court disagreed, holding that as a matter of federal law a defendant has no such right ... to collaterally attack prior convictions, with the sole exception of convictions obtained in violation of the right to appointed counsel established in Gideon. (___ U.S. at p. ___ [128 L.Ed.2d at pp. 522-523, 114 S.Ct. at p. 1734].) The court based this limitation in part upon the historical basis (in its jurisprudence pertaining to collateral attacks) for treating the failure to appoint counsel for an indigent defendant as a unique constitutional defect, attributing a jurisdictional significance to the failure to appoint counsel at all. (___ U.S. at pp. ___ [128 L.Ed.2d at pp. 526-528, 114 S.Ct. at pp. 1737-1738].) The court further emphasized that such a limitation was compelled by the factor of [e]ase of administration, because failure to appoint counsel at all will generally appear from the judgment roll itself, or from an accompanying minute order. ( Id. at p. ___ [128 L.Ed.2d at p. 528, 114 S.Ct. at p. 1738].) The high court concluded the applicable federal statute did not permit Custis to employ the federal sentencing forum as a means of gaining review of his state convictions, because neither Congress nor the federal Constitution required protraction of the federal sentencing process for such a purpose. The court explicitly recognized, however, that Custis could attack collaterally his state sentences in the states in which these sentences had been rendered or by federal habeas corpus review, and, if successful, then could apply to reopen any federal sentence enhanced by the state convictions. (___ U.S. at p. ___ [128 L.Ed.2d at p. 529, 114 S.Ct. at p. 1739].) Upon a close review of the Custis decision and the parties' supplemental briefing, we agree with defendant that Custis neither compels nor justifies a modification of existing California law governing a collateral attack, in a capital proceeding, upon a prior conviction that the prosecution has alleged as a special circumstance rendering the defendant eligible for the death penalty. Custis was not a capital case, and thus the United States Supreme Court did not address the question of the appropriate scope of a collateral challenge in such a setting. Because the collateral challenge in the present case relates solely to the proposed use of a prior conviction in a capital context, we have no occasion in this case to determine whether, or in what respect, the policy considerations set forth by the majority in Custis should affect collateral attacks on prior convictions in a noncapital setting. (26) In focusing upon the capital context presented by the case before us, we are mindful of the United States Supreme Court's repeated admonition that `the penalty of death is qualitatively different from a sentence of imprisonment, however long,' and that, as a result, `there is a corresponding difference in the need for reliability in the determination that death is the appropriate punishment in a specific case. ' ( Gardner v. Florida (1977) 430 U.S. 349, 363 [51 L.Ed.2d 393, 405, 97 S.Ct. 1197] (conc. opn. of White, J., italics in original); see Lankford v. Idaho (1991) 500 U.S. 110, 125-126 [114 L.Ed.2d 173, 187-188, 111 S.Ct. 1723]; Johnson v. Mississippi (1988) 486 U.S. 578, 584 [100 L.Ed.2d 575, 583, 108 S.Ct. 1981] (hereafter Johnson ).) Because the Constitution places special emphasis upon the need for reliability in the capital context, it is particularly important to assure that a prior conviction that is sought to be used as a basis or justification for the imposition of the death penalty is not tainted by a fundamental constitutional flaw. The United States Supreme Court specifically recognized this principle in its decision in Johnson, supra, 486 U.S. 578. In Johnson, the defendant was sentenced to death in a Mississippi proceeding based in part upon the aggravating circumstance of having suffered a prior New York felony conviction. After the Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed the death penalty judgment, the defendant successfully attacked the prior New York conviction in a New York proceeding, the court in the latter proceeding concluding that the conviction must be reversed because the defendant initially had been denied his constitutional right to appeal the conviction and an appeal no longer could be provided, because all records of defendant's trial had been lost. Thereafter, the defendant sought relief in the Mississippi Supreme Court, asserting that the constitutional invalidity of the prior New York conviction (upon which the Mississippi death judgment had been based in part) warranted setting aside the death judgment. The Mississippi court denied relief. The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari and ultimately reversed, holding that a death sentence predicated in part upon a prior conviction that has been set aside on constitutional grounds cannot be sustained. (486 U.S. at pp. 585-586 [100 L.Ed.2d at pp. 584-585].) The court reasoned that to allow a death sentence to stand although based in part upon a reversed conviction would be contrary to the court's previous recognition of a special `need for reliability in the determination that death is the appropriate punishment' in any capital case. ( Id. at p. 584 [100 L.Ed.2d at p. 584].) Accordingly, the court in Johnson recognized that a prior conviction that is invalidated on constitutional grounds (including an invalidation based upon the violation of a constitutional right other than the right to counsel established in Gideon ) does not constitute reliable evidence that properly may support a sentence of death. As the Johnson decision, supra, 486 U.S. 578, demonstrates, the special need for reliability in the death penalty context is undermined whenever a prior conviction (upon which a death penalty judgment is based) is tainted by a fatal fundamental constitutional defect. Johnson also demonstrates that the constitutional problem is not confined to instances in which the prior conviction is invalid because of Gideon error. As we have seen, in Johnson itself the prior conviction had been invalidated by the New York court for another type of fundamental constitutional violation, namely, the denial of the right to appeal. Accordingly, we conclude that, in the context of a capital case, a collateral challenge to a prior conviction that has been alleged as a special circumstance may not properly be confined to a claim of Gideon error, but may be based upon at least some other types of fundamental constitutional flaws. In the present case, the nature of at least one of the alleged constitutional violations that occurred at defendant's Illinois trial  denial of the assistance of counsel at a critical stage of the trial  constitutes a serious infringement of a defendant's fundamental right to counsel under the Sixth Amendment. ( People v. Hogan (1982) 31 Cal.3d 815, 848-850 [183 Cal. Rptr. 817, 647 P.2d 93]). In Hogan, we recognized that the denial of the right to representation of counsel at a critical stage of trial, affecting a defendant's substantial rights, gives rise to a presumption of prejudice, both because of the fundamental nature of the right involved (the right to the assistance of counsel) and its relation to a fair trial. ( Ibid. ) A conviction flawed by a constitutional violation of this magnitude is antithetical to the heightened need for reliability in the determination that death is the appropriate sentence. For these reasons, we conclude that an alleged constitutional violation of the right to counsel at a critical stage of trial falls within the bounds of the permissible grounds that, under Coffey, will support a motion to strike a prior-murder-conviction special circumstance in a capital case. (25b) As our decision in Curl v. Superior Court, supra, 51 Cal.3d 1292, makes clear, when a defendant challenges the validity of a prior conviction, he or she bears the burden of establishing its constitutional invalidity. To meet this burden, it is not enough for a defendant simply to make some showing that a constitutional error occurred in the prior criminal proceedings. A prior conviction carries a ` strong presumption of constitutional regularity, ' and the defendant must establish a violation of his or her rights that `so departed from constitutional requirements' as to justify striking the prior conviction. ( Id. at p. 1304, italics in original.) (24b) Although the circumstances may be rare that will support a prima facie case of a complete denial of representation at a critical trial stage, the record establishes that defendant met his burden in the present case. The materials presented in support of his motion to strike demonstrated that he was denied the assistance of counsel when the jury announced it was deadlocked and the trial court went forward with the proceeding, in the particular manner recited below, despite the absence of defendant's own attorney. It is clear from the record that counsel for codefendant Golden agreed expressly to stand in for Malek (defendant's own attorney) solely for the limited purpose of receiving a jury verdict and polling the jurors. Neither defendant nor Malek consented to have Nixon represent defendant in the event of a jury deadlock. Nor was defendant advised of, nor did he waive, a conflict between his interests and those of Nixon's client, Golden. The record also establishes that this stage of the proceedings was a critical one from defendant's standpoint  a time at which crucial decisions affecting his defense were to be made, and where his counsel could have taken steps that would have protected and furthered defendant's substantial rights. (See United States v. Wade (1967) 388 U.S. 218, 224-226 [18 L.Ed.2d 1149, 1155-1157, 87 S.Ct. 1926]; People v. Dagnino (1978) 80 Cal. App.3d 981, 989-990 [146 Cal. Rptr. 129].) The transcript reflects that the trial court was prepared to declare a mistrial and that a principal reason it did not take this action was because Nixon  the only defense counsel present  urged the court to allow the jury to continue its deliberations. With regard to the decision whether to declare a mistrial, however, the interests of defendant and those of Nixon's own client were in considerable conflict. The victim had been killed by a shotgun blast fired by defendant or by codefendant Golden in a gang-related dispute. There was evidence presented during the trial tending to establish that only one of the two codefendants had fired a fatal shot, and the evidence implicating defendant appeared stronger than the evidence implicating Golden. Malek had not called any witnesses on behalf of defendant, whereas Nixon had introduced evidence providing his client with an alibi defense. (The disparity in the evidence of guilt  indicating a conflict of interest between the two codefendants  was borne out by the jury verdict, following the resumption of deliberations, convicting defendant of murder and acquitting Golden.) Under these circumstances, it appears the declaration of a mistrial would have been substantially more favorable to defendant than to codefendant Golden, and the record clearly indicates the trial court was prepared to declare a mistrial. The absence of defendant's own counsel prevented defendant from pressing for a mistrial, or  in the event Nixon continued to seek renewed jury deliberations on behalf of Golden  from moving to have his case severed from Golden's case, and a mistrial declared with respect to defendant. Thus, defendant was denied representation at a stage at which the exercise of his counsel's judgment and skill could have resulted in an outcome dramatically more favorable to defendant than a conviction of murder. (27) Although denial of counsel at a critical stage of a trial is not prejudicial as a matter of law, `prejudice will be presumed if the denial may have affected the substantial rights of the accused. Only the most compelling showing to the contrary will overcome the presumption. The court must be able to declare a belief the denial of counsel was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt [under Chapman v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 18, 24 [17 L.Ed.2d 705, 710-711, 87 S.Ct. 824, 24 A.L.R.3d 1065].]' ( People v. Jennings (1991) 53 Cal.3d 334, 384 [279 Cal. Rptr. 780, 807 P.2d 1009]; People v. Hogan, supra, 31 Cal.3d 815, 849 [[I]f the denial of the right to counsel during jury deliberations may have affected substantial rights of a defendant, prejudice is presumed and `[o]nly the most compelling showing to the contrary will overcome the presumption.'].) (24c) Under the foregoing rules, Attorney Malek's absence at a critical stage of the proceedings gave rise to a presumption of prejudice, and the People failed to make any showing that would rebut that presumption. Accordingly, we cannot find the error harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. (28) The People further contend, however, that even if the nature of the constitutional defect in the prior conviction was of a type that a defendant could otherwise raise by a collateral attack in a capital case, the trial court's denial of defendant's motion properly can be upheld either on the ground that defendant could and should have raised the issue on direct appeal of the prior conviction, or on the ground that the claim was, in fact, raised and rejected in the Illinois appeal. (See In re Waltreus (1965) 62 Cal.2d 218, 225 [42 Cal. Rptr. 9, 397 P.2d 1001]; In re Dixon (1953) 41 Cal.2d 756 [264 P.2d 513].) We disagree. Even in the noncapital context, past California decisions have held that, because a motion to strike a prior conviction pursuant to Coffey does not serve to vacate or extinguish the conviction or to require a retrial of the charges leading to the conviction, the established procedural bars that would apply in a habeas corpus proceeding seeking to vacate the prior conviction do not necessarily apply to a Coffey motion. ( People v. Sumstine, supra, 36 Cal.3d, at pp. 920-921.) Further, although it may be that in a noncapital case a defendant generally would not be permitted to challenge a prior conviction by a Coffey motion on the basis of a constitutional claim that had been explicitly raised and rejected on direct appeal  an issue we need not decide  we do not believe it would be appropriate to apply such a rule in the context of capital proceedings, particularly where a serious deficiency in the prior appellate review is apparent from the appellate opinion itself. As we have explained, the unique nature of the death penalty imposes a special need for reliability in the determination of the applicability and appropriateness of this ultimate sanction. In the capital context, a defendant almost invariably will face much graver consequences from the use of the prior conviction, as a predicate for a special circumstance finding, than he or she faced in the earlier criminal proceeding; it is because of those grave consequences, of course, that a defendant has been accorded special procedural protections and assistance in a capital case. In many instances, it may be unfair  and inconsistent with the special need for reliability  to deprive a defendant of the right to demonstrate the invalidity of the prior conviction in the subsequent capital prosecution simply because in the prior proceeding, when much less may have been at stake and the defendant may not have been accorded the same procedural protections, defendant did not prevail on the issue. Thus, notwithstanding the proper deference that normally should be accorded the judgments of sister states, where an error in an appellate court's prior review of an alleged constitutional violation appears on the face of the judgment itself, and the claimed violation is tantamount to a complete denial of representation at a critical trial stage, the prior judgment should not bar a defendant from raising that claim in a California capital proceeding. The circumstances of the instant case may illustrate this point. Although the record does not reveal the content or quality of the briefing that was presented to the Illinois intermediate appellate court on behalf of defendant, that court's treatment of the incident in question  suggesting that the record clearly indicated that Malek had delegated full responsibility for the representation of defendant to Nixon (see, ante, fn. 12)  appears quite inadequate in light of the trial transcript that is before us. Indeed, the legal and factual conclusions of the Illinois court in this regard (see fn. 12, ante ) are immediately refuted by a brief review of the transcript of the proceedings. Furthermore, although the Illinois appellate court rejected defendant's claim of constitutional error with regard to defense counsel's absence, the appellate court's overall disposition of the case would not necessarily have been viewed as unsatisfactory to the defendant, because the appellate court significantly reduced defendant's sentence. Thus, we believe that the increased need for reliability in the death determination process warrants a rule that permits a defendant, at least in the context of capital proceedings, to challenge the constitutional validity of a prior conviction (alleged as the basis of a special circumstance) on the fundamental ground raised in the present case, even where the issue has been decided adversely to the defendant in the direct appeal of the prior conviction. Finally, we observe that in capital cases, considerations of judicial economy  one of the underpinnings of Coffey  strongly support a procedure that permits a defendant to raise, at a pretrial stage, this type of collateral challenge to a prior murder conviction alleged as the basis for a special circumstance. A death sentence premised upon a prior murder conviction that is, in fact, tainted by a fundamental constitutional flaw inevitably will give rise to one or more exhaustive habeas corpus petitions in this court and possibly in federal tribunals, probably requiring, ultimately, that the death penalty judgment be set aside under the principles articulated in Johnson v. Mississippi, supra, 486 U.S. 578. If a constitutionally defective prior murder conviction alleged as the basis of a special circumstance is stricken prior to trial, the defense, the People, and the judicial system all may be spared the time, expense, and effort of prosecuting a capital case through trial, automatic appeal, and habeas corpus proceedings, only to have the death penalty judgment ultimately set aside. (See also People v. Fosselman (1983) 33 Cal.3d 572, 582 [189 Cal. Rptr. 855, 659 P.2d 1144] [[I]n appropriate circumstances justice will be expedited by avoiding appellate review, or habeas corpus proceedings, in favor of presenting the issue of counsel's effectiveness to the trial court as the basis of a motion for new trial.].) (24d) For all of the foregoing reasons, we conclude the trial court in the present case erred in denying defendant's motion to strike the prior-murder-conviction special-circumstance allegation on the ground of the constitutional invalidity of the underlying prior murder conviction. Under the circumstances where the prosecution was provided an opportunity to present evidence to rebut defendant's showing in support of the motion to strike, but failed to do so, we need not, and therefore do not, remand for a new hearing on the motion. Accordingly, we determine the prior-murder-conviction special-circumstance finding must be set aside. (29) We further conclude, notwithstanding the validity of the separate robbery-murder special circumstance, that our determination to vacate the prior-murder-conviction special circumstance requires that we also set aside the death penalty judgment. At the penalty phase, the prosecution presented no new evidence in aggravation, relying entirely, in aggravation, upon defendant's prior murder conviction (arguing to the jury that we wouldn't be here today but for the prior murder conviction), as well as the circumstances of the current capital offense. In this context, we conclude there exists a reasonable possibility the jury would have returned a verdict of life imprisonment without possibility of parole, instead of death, absent the prior-murder-conviction special-circumstance finding. (See People v. Mickey, supra, 54 Cal.3d 612, 703; People v. Brown (1988) 46 Cal.3d 432, 446-447 [250 Cal. Rptr. 604, 758 P.2d 1135].) We reject, however, defendant's contention that in the event the prior-murder-conviction special-circumstance finding is set aside, the guilt phase verdict also must be set aside. Defendant argues that if the prior murder conviction had been invalidated at the outset of the guilt phase of the trial, he would have had an opportunity to present a defense more effective than that which he was able to present at the proceedings below. The record does not indicate, however, that defendant sought a hearing on his motion to strike the prior-murder-conviction special-circumstance allegation at any time prior to shortly before the completion of the defense case at the guilt phase. In their written notice of motion, defense counsel designated March 22, 1985, as the date for the hearing on the motion to strike, although the hearing actually went forward on March 21, the date the defense commenced its case (after the prosecution had rested on March 19). The defense concluded its case on March 25. Under these circumstances, defendant waived any claim related to the setting of the hearing on his motion to strike the prior-murder-conviction special circumstance after commencement of the guilt phase. In conclusion, the trial court's error in denying defendant's motion to strike the prior-murder-conviction special circumstance allegation requires that we set aside that special circumstance finding, as well as the judgment imposing the death penalty, but does not affect any other aspect of the judgment. On remand, the People may seek the imposition of the death penalty based upon the special-circumstance finding that the murder was committed in the course of a robbery, and, at a penalty retrial, present in aggravation evidence of the circumstances of the prior murder of which defendant was convicted in Illinois, to the extent such evidence is otherwise admissible under generally applicable evidentiary rules.