Opinion ID: 478419
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: use of 1964 felony conviction

Text: 15 Newton contends that the refusal of the state court to apply the principle of res judicata to Judge Cook's 1971 order in the 1978 criminal proceedings violated state and federal due process. We address Newton's state and federal challenges under separate headings. 16
17 Violations of state law, without more, do not deprive a defendant of due process. Cooks v. Spalding, 660 F.2d 738, 739 (9th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 455 U.S. 1026, 102 S.Ct. 1729, 72 L.Ed.2d 147 (1982) (citing La Brasca v. Misterly, 423 F.2d 708, 709 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 838, 91 S.Ct. 77, 27 L.Ed.2d 72 (1970) ); see Engle v. Isaac, 456 U.S. 107, 121 n. 21, 102 S.Ct. 1558, 1568 n. 21, 71 L.Ed.2d 783 (1982) (We have long recognized that a 'mere error of state law' is not a denial of due process. If the contrary were true, then 'every erroneous decision by a state court on state law would come [to this Court] as a federal constitutional question.' ) (quoting Gryger v. Burke, 334 U.S. 728, 731, 68 S.Ct. 1256, 1258, 92 L.Ed. 1683 (1948) (citation omitted) ). Habeas corpus relief for an asserted violation of due process is available only when the state court's action is arbitrary or fundamentally unfair. Cooks, 660 F.2d at 739 (citing United States ex rel. Burnett v. Illinois, 619 F.2d 668, 670 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 880, 101 S.Ct. 229, 66 L.Ed.2d 104 (1980) ). 18 Newton claims that as a matter of state law, Judge Cook's order striking the sentence enhancing allegation of his 1964 felony conviction from the 1967 accusatory pleading terminated his status as a convicted felon. Newton argues that Judge Cook's order was final and appealable. He asserts that the failure of the state prosecutor to appeal the order striking the sentence enhancing allegation precluded the state prosecutor from alleging that Newton had been convicted of a felony as an element of the crime of possession of a concealable firearm by a felon. 19 Under California law, any issue necessarily decided and litigated by the final determination on the merits of an issue in a criminal action is conclusive in a subsequent action between the same parties. People v. Sims, 32 Cal.3d 468, 477, 651 P.2d 321, 326, 186 Cal.Rptr. 77, 82 (1982). In criminal matters, the final determination on the merits need not be a judgment; the doctrine of res judicata has been applied in California to orders affecting substantial rights which have been fully litigated and are final and appealable. Id. at 482, 651 P.2d at 329-30, 186 Cal.Rptr. at 85-86; Rebco Development, Inc. v. Superior Court, 67 Cal.App.3d 13, 16, 136 Cal.Rptr. 351, 352 (1977). 20 Res judicata and collateral estoppel principles are inapplicable to orders dismissing criminal proceedings following preliminary hearings. People v. Uhlemann, 9 Cal.3d 662, 667-68, 511 P.2d 609, 612, 108 Cal.Rptr. 657, 660 (1973). Thus, the magistrate's dismissal of the complaint charging Newton with possession of a concealable firearm by a felon after the preliminary hearing has no collateral estoppel or res judicata effect on the 1978 proceeding which led to Newton's conviction in the instant matter. 21 Newton has failed to direct our attention to any California case that supports his assertion that the striking of a sentence enhancing allegation in a criminal proceeding has a preclusive effect on a subsequent criminal proceeding based on an accusatory pleading alleging unrelated substantive offenses. We have found that the law of California is to the contrary. In a case involving facts logically indistinguishable from those presented to us in this proceeding, the California Court of Appeal held that an order striking a sentence enhancing allegation of a prior conviction which was followed by a mistrial was not appealable and not binding on the court at a subsequent trial based on the same accusatory pleading. People v. Bryan, 3 Cal.App.3d 327, 339, 83 Cal.Rptr. 291, 299 (1970). The California court in Bryan concluded that [t]he granting of a ... mistrial is tantamount to a holding that there was no trial. Id. 22 Newton's attempt to distinguish Bryan is unpersuasive. Newton suggests that we are not bound by the holding in Bryan because the trial judge in that matter gave no reasons for his order striking the prior. Newton asks that we give preclusive effect to Judge Cook's order because he stated his reasons for striking the sentence enhancing allegation in a written order. This argument ignores well settled California law that the striking of a sentence enhancing allegation of a prior conviction has no preclusive effect notwithstanding a determination that it was constitutionally invalid. Gonzalez v. Municipal Court, 32 Cal.App.3d 706, 711, 108 Cal.Rptr. 612, 617 (1973). Motions to strike such an allegation do not vacate the underlying conviction.... People v. Sumstine, 36 Cal.3d 909, 920, 687 P.2d 904, 911, 206 Cal.Rptr. 707, 714 (1984). The purpose of a motion to strike is to challenge only the present effect of the prior conviction. Id. at 921, 687 P.2d at 911-12, 206 Cal.Rptr. at 715. If a California trial court grants a motion to strike the allegation of a prior conviction, it cannot be used to enhance the punishment in that criminal proceeding. People v. Allheim, 48 Cal.App.3d Supp. 1, 5-6, 121 Cal.Rptr. 448, 451 (1975). If the defendant is subsequently prosecuted on an unrelated offense, however, the allegation of a prior conviction may be pleaded and the defendant must satisfy the trial court in that proceeding that the prior conviction cannot be used to enhance the sentence. Id. at 5-6, 121 Cal.Rptr. at 451. 23 A motion to strike a sentence enhancing allegation is not the equivalent of a motion to set aside a plea of guilty and vacate a prior judgment of conviction. Gonzalez, 32 Cal.App.3d at 710-11, 108 Cal.Rptr. at 616. The fact that a defendant has been successful in urging that a sentence enhancing allegation be struck in a subsequent prosecution on an unrelated charge does not affect the validity of the earlier judgment. The defendant is still subject to the onerous effects which flow from a conviction until he  'successfully moves to vacate or set aside the judgment in the original action....'  Sumstine, 36 Cal.3d at 921, 687 P.2d at 911, 206 Cal.Rptr. at 714-15 (quoting Gonzalez, 32 Cal.App.3d at 712 n. 9, 108 Cal.Rptr. at 617 n. 9). 24 In summary, Newton's argument that the failure of the prosecutor to appeal Judge Cook's order collaterally estopped the state prosecutor from alleging the prior conviction as an element of a substantive offense in an unrelated action must fail. The law of California clearly does not accord preclusive effect in a subsequent proceeding to the action of a trial court in striking a sentence enhancing allegation of a prior conviction. We note also, in passing, that an appeal by the state prosecutor of Judge Cook's order, which solely affected sentence enhancement, after a mistrial was declared and the dismissal or abandonment of any further prosecution of that matter, would have been frivolous. An appeal after the abandonment of the substantive charges would have resulted in a purely academic or advisory opinion. Once the prosecution was abandoned without a judgment of conviction, there was no sentence to enhance. 25 Under California law an appellate court will ordinarily not consider an appeal which raises moot, academic, or abstract questions. B. Witkin, California Procedure Sec. 517, at 499 (3d ed. 1986). An appeal is subject to dismissal as moot, where, because of the happening of some event, a decision would be ineffectual and could serve no useful purpose. Id. Here, as we have already explained, Judge Cook's order striking Newton's prior was followed by a mistrial. Under Bryan, Judge Cook's order would not have been binding at a retrial on the same charge. Clearly, it could not have a preclusive effect on these unrelated proceedings. 26 The state trial court did not err under California law in refusing to accord preclusive effect to Judge Cook's order. Newton has failed to show arbitrary action or fundamental unfairness constituting a deprivation of due process under the fourteenth amendment.
27 Newton claims that the failure of the state trial court to accord preclusive effect to Judge Cook's order placed him in double jeopardy in violation of the federal constitution. We disagree. 28 The fifth amendment to the United States Constitution provides in pertinent part: nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; .... The fifth amendment's bar to double jeopardy is applicable to state proceedings by virtue of the fourteenth amendment. Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 794, 795-96, 89 S.Ct. 2056, 2062, 2063, 23 L.Ed.2d 707 (1969). 29 [T]he doctrine of collateral estoppel applies to criminal cases as part of the constitutional protection against double jeopardy. United States v. Dipp, 581 F.2d 1323, 1325 (9th Cir.1978), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1071, 99 S.Ct. 841, 59 L.Ed.2d 37 (1979) (citing Ashe v. Swenson, 397 U.S. 436, 90 S.Ct. 1189, 25 L.Ed.2d 469 (1970)). In United States v. Hernandez, 572 F.2d 218 (9th Cir.1978), we described the collateral estoppel doctrine as follows: 30 When an issue of fact or law is actually litigated and determined by a final and valid judgment, and the determination is essential to the judgment, the determination is conclusive in a subsequent action between the parties, whether on the same or a different claim. 31 Id. at 220 (quoting Restatement (Second) of the Law, Judgments Sec. 68 (Tent.Draft No. 1, 1973)). Application of the doctrine involves a three-step process of analysis: 32 (1) An identification of the issues in the two actions for the purpose of determining whether the issues are sufficiently similar and sufficiently material in both actions to justify invoking the doctrine; (2) an examination of the record of the prior case to decide whether the issue was litigated in the first case; and (3) an examination of the record of the prior proceeding to ascertain whether the issue was necessarily decided in the first case. 33 Hernandez, 572 F.2d at 220; Dipp, 581 F.2d at 1325. The inquiry  'must be set in a practical frame and viewed with an eye to all the circumstances of the proceedings.'  Ashe, 397 U.S. at 444, 90 S.Ct. at 1194 (quoting Sealfon v. United States, 332 U.S. 575, 579, 68 S.Ct. 237, 240, 92 L.Ed. 180 (1948)). 34 In the matter before us, counsel for the state trial court correctly argues that the issues in the 1971 and 1978 orders are not sufficiently similar or sufficiently material to justify invoking the doctrine of collateral estoppel. The incentive of the prosecution to litigate the issue of the validity of the 1964 prior felony conviction in the 1971 proceeding was substantially less than in the present proceeding. In the 1971 proceedings, the prior felony conviction was alleged in the accusatory pleading for the purpose of sentence enhancement. In the current action, the 1964 prior felony conviction was offered to prove an element of the charged offense, i.e., a felon in possession of a concealable firearm under Cal.Penal Code Sec. 12021(a). Thus, the issues are not sufficiently material and sufficiently similar. 35 An examination of the record in the 1971 proceedings reveals that the issue whether Newton's 1964 felony conviction should be vacated was not litigated. As we have explained, a motion to strike a prior felony conviction alleged in an accusatory pleading for sentence enhancement purposes has a different effect under California law than a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to vacate a judgment because of constitutional infirmities. Sumstine, 36 Cal.3d at 920-21, 687 P.2d at 911-12, 206 Cal.Rptr. at 714-15. In Sumstine, the California Supreme Court stated that the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus vacates the underlying judgment of conviction ... [which] ceases to exist for all purposes. Id. at 920, 687 P.2d at 911, 206 Cal.Rptr. at 714. An order striking a sentence enhancing allegation of a prior conviction does not have the effect of vacating the earlier judgment. Id. at 920-21, 687 P.2d at 911, 206 Cal.Rptr. at 714.