Opinion ID: 2507609
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Forfeiture of Sixth Amendment Claim by Failure to Object

Text: The Attorney General contends that defendant has forfeited his Sixth Amendment claim because he failed to raise it at the sentencing hearing, which was conducted two weeks after the United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Blakely, supra, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403. Ordinarily, an appellate court will not consider a claim of error if an objection could have been, but was not, made in the lower court. ( People v. Saunders (1993) 5 Cal.4th 580, 589-590, 20 Cal.Rptr.2d 638, 853 P.2d 1093 ( Saunders ).) The reason for this rule is that [i]t is both unfair and inefficient to permit a claim of error on appeal that, if timely brought to the attention of the trial court, could have been easily corrected or avoided. ( People v. Vera (1997) 15 Cal.4th 269, 276, 62 Cal.Rptr.2d 754, 934 P.2d 1279 ( Vera ); Saunders, supra, 5 Cal.4th at p. 590, 20 Cal.Rptr.2d 638, 853 P.2d 1093.) [T]he forfeiture rule ensures that the opposing party is given an opportunity to address the objection, and it prevents a party from engaging in gamesmanship by choosing not to object, awaiting the outcome, and then claiming error. ( People v. Kennedy (2005) 36 Cal.4th 595, 612, 31 Cal.Rptr.3d 160,115 P.3d 472.) We also have recognized, however, that a [defendant's failure to object also would not preclude his asserting on appeal that he was denied his constitutional right to a jury trial. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 16; People v. Holmes (1960) 54 Cal.2d 442, 443-444[, 5 Cal.Rptr. 871, 353 P.2d 583].) ( Saunders, supra, 5 Cal.4th at p. 589, fn. 5, 20 Cal.Rptr.2d 638, 853 P.2d 1093.) Our state Constitution requires that waiver of jury trial in a criminal case be made by the consent of both parties expressed in open court by the defendant and the defendant's counsel. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 16.) The requirement of an express waiver applies to the constitutional right to a jury trial, but not to jury trial rights that are established only by statute. ( Vera, supra, 15 Cal.4th at p. 278, 62 Cal.Rptr.2d 754, 934 P.2d 1279; Saunders, supra, 5 Cal.4th at p. 589, fn. 5, 20 Cal.Rptr.2d 638, 853 P.2d 1093.) In Vera, after the defendant was found guilty of the charged offenses, the trial court, under the belief that the defendant wished to waive his right to a jury trial on allegations that he had served prior prison terms, dismissed the jury and decided those allegations at the subsequent sentencing hearing. We held that the defendant forfeited his right to a jury trial on those allegations when he failed to object to the trial court's dismissal of the jury. We explained that [t]he right to have a jury determine the truth of a prior conviction allegation does not flow from the jury trial provision of article I, section 16 of the California Constitution or the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. It is derived from statute. ( Vera, supra, 15 Cal.4th at p. 277, 62 Cal. Rptr.2d 754, 934 P.2d 1279.) Therefore, the failure to obtain an express waiver of the right to a jury trial did not violate the state constitutional mandate that the waiver of the right to jury trial be made by the consent of both parties expressed in open court by the defendant and the defendant's counsel. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 16.) Although we held in Vera that the defendant had forfeited his statutory right to a jury trial on prior-prison-term allegations by failing to object, we clearly implied that an express waiver would have been required if the right to a jury trial on those allegations had been based upon the state or federal Constitution. (See Vera, supra, 15 Cal.4th at p. 278, 62 Cal.Rptr.2d 754, 934 P.2d 1279.) [2] In contrast to the statutory right to a jury trial at issue in Vera, the jury trial right at issue in the present case is one that is guaranteed by the federal Constitution. When the constitutional right to jury trial is involved, we have required an express waiver even in cases in which the circumstances make it apparent that all involvedthe trial court, the prosecutor, defense counsel, and the defendantassumed that the defendant had waived or intended to waive the right to a jury trial. (See, e.g., People v. Ernst (1994) 8 Cal.4th 441, 34 Cal.Rptr.2d 238, 881 P.2d 298 [no valid waiver when counsel stated the defense was prepared to waive trial by jury and, at a subsequent proceeding, counsel indicated that the right to a jury had been waived, but defendant never expressly waived that right]; People v. Holmes, supra, 54 Cal.2d at pp. 443-44, 5 Cal.Rptr. 871, 353 P.2d 583 [no valid waiver when counsel informed the court that trial would be by the court, the court explained defendant's rights to him, and defendant stated he understood those rights but never said he waived his right to a jury trial].) [3] At the time that defendant entered his plea of no contest, he expressly waived his right to a jury trial on the substantive offenses, but this waiver did not encompass his right to a jury trial on any aggravating circumstances. The absence of such an explicit waiver is not surprising. When defendant entered his plea, Blakely had not yet been decided, and prior to that decision it was widely assumed that for the purposes of the rule established in Apprendi, the maximum term authorized by the jury's verdict was the upper term. ( Black II, supra, 41 Cal.4th at p. 811, 62 Cal.Rptr.3d 569, 161 P.3d 1130.) Defendant pleaded no contest only to the offenses charged and did not admit any sentencing factors. Defendant's waiver of jury trial on the offenses in connection with his no contest plea cannot reasonably be interpreted to extend to proof of aggravating circumstances when, at the time of the plea, no right to a jury trial on such circumstances had been recognized. Defendant did not forfeit his Sixth Amendment right by failing to request a jury trial on the aggravating circumstances, and his claim must be addressed on the merits. [4]