Opinion ID: 1179507
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Admonition Before Withdrawing Insanity Plea.

Text: Defendant originally pleaded not guilty to all counts. In addition, as to the murder of Sandra only, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. After the jury returned the verdicts finding defendant guilty of the offenses charged, defense counsel announced that defendant was withdrawing his insanity plea. The court inquired of defendant whether he had conferred with his counsel on the matter, and whether he wished to withdraw the plea. Defendant replied affirmatively, and the court allowed the plea to be withdrawn. (9a) Defendant now complains that the court failed to expressly advise him regarding the various constitutional rights he would be foregoing by withdrawing his plea, including the privilege against self-incrimination and the rights to jury trial and confrontation. (See People v. Redmond (1971) 16 Cal. App.3d 931, 939 [94 Cal. Rptr. 543]; cf. People v. Merkouris (1956) 46 Cal.2d 540, 552-553 [297 P.2d 999] [improper withdrawal of insanity plea despite court's doubts as to defendant's competence].) The People observe that Merkouris and Redmond are distinguishable, for each case involved improper withdrawals of insanity pleas despite the existence of some doubt as to the defendant's sanity. In the present case neither the trial court nor defendant's own experts had indicated any doubt regarding his sanity. Dr. Kling had originally concluded that defendant was sane at the time of the murders. Although he later took the position that defendant had a schizotypal personality disorder which might have affected his ability to premeditate, Dr. Kling neither disclaimed nor revised his earlier opinion about defendant's sanity. (10), (9b) Thus, the case is controlled by our opinion in People v. Guerra (1985) 40 Cal.3d 377, 384 [220 Cal. Rptr. 374, 708 P.2d 1252], quoting with approval language in Redmond, supra, 16 Cal. App.3d 931, 939, that no recitals of constitutional rights need be given `where there is no doubt of a defendant's sanity in the mind of the trial court and the reports of the examining psychiatrists unanimously indicate that such defendant was sane at the time of the offense. Free withdrawal of the insanity plea under such circumstances should be permitted as it has been in the past.' (9c) Dr. Kling's testimony regarding defendant's personality disorder was insufficient, as a matter of law, to raise a doubt regarding defendant's sanity under Guerra or Redmond. We conclude that the guilt judgment and special circumstance finding should be affirmed.