Opinion ID: 1210508
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Defendant's request to waive his appeal

Text: Defendant faults this court for not allowing him to waive the automatic appeal in Massie I, supra, 40 Cal.3d 620, 221 Cal.Rptr. 140, 709 P.2d 1309, following his guilty plea to capital murder. He acknowledges that we rejected an identical contention in People v. Stanworth (1969) 71 Cal.2d 820, 80 Cal.Rptr. 49, 457 P.2d 889. He argues, however, that Stanworth was wrong and should be overruled. We disagree. Section 1239(b) provides that an appeal of a sentence of death is automatically taken to this court. As we explained in Stanworth: This statute imposes a duty upon this court `to make an examination of the complete record of the proceedings had in the trial court, to the end that it be ascertained whether defendant was given a fair trial.'... [¶] ... We cannot avoid or abdicate this duty merely because defendant desires to waive the right provided for him. ( People v. Stanworth, supra, 71 Cal.2d at p. 833, 80 Cal.Rptr. 49, 457 P.2d 889.) In taking a contrary view, defendant argues that the Legislature never intended to prevent capital defendants from waiving the right to an appeal. In support, he cites to a legislative committee report issued in 1935. This report was not discussed in People v. Stanworth, supra, 71 Cal.2d 820, 80 Cal.Rptr. 49, 457 P.2d 889, and defendant asks us to take judicial notice of it. We do so. [4] In 1935, condemned inmate Rush Griffin was executed before his appeal had been heard. Griffin's attorney had filed a notice of appeal in the superior court, but the clerk's transcript of the trial proceedings was not forwarded to this court until three days after Griffin's execution. At that time, it was customary for the clerk of this court to notify the warden of San Quentin prison by letter that an appeal was pending, but because the superior court had not informed this court that the defendant had appealed, no such letter was written. The superior court sent the warden a letter mentioning the appeal, but the warden overlooked the letter and carried out Griffin's execution. (Special Com. to Investigate the Execution of Rush Griffin, Rep. (May 28, 1935) Sen. J. (1935 Reg. Sess.) p. 2427 (hereafter Special Committee Report).) The special legislative committee that looked into the matter concluded that the existing procedures of law are woefully inadequate with reference to the procedure for appeal of cases involving the death penalty. (Special Com. Rep., supra, p. 2428.) The committee recommended that legislation be enacted providing, among other things, for an automatic appeal ... in all cases in which the penalty of death is imposed and that the date of execution be set by the trial judge upon the receipt by him of the Appellate Court's order affirming the death penalty, and not as now provided when sentence is pronounced by the trial judge. ( Ibid. Legislation to so amend section 1239 was introduced in the state Senate on May 28, 1935, the same day on which the Special Committee Report was recorded in the Senate Journal. Both the Senate and the Assembly swiftly approved the proposed amendment; seven weeks later, the Governor signed it into law. The holding in People v. Stanworth, supra, 71 Cal.2d 820, 80 Cal.Rptr. 49, 457 P.2d 889, that a capital defendant may not waive the automatic appeal provided by section 1239(b) is consistent with the legislative purpose reflected in the Special Committee Report just discussed. To prevent an execution before determination of an appeal, the committee recommended that legislation be enacted requiring that all cases in which the death penalty is imposed be automatically appealed to this court. (Special Com. Rep., supra, p. 2428, italics added.) Section 1239(b), which expressly provides for an automatic appeal in every capital case, implements this recommendation. If, as defendant contends, the Legislature's intent was to permit a condemned inmate to waive an appeal to a death judgment, it could easily have said so. It did not. We decided People v. Stanworth, supra, 71 Cal.2d 820, 80 Cal.Rptr. 49, 457 P.2d 889, almost 30 years ago. Since then, the Legislature has reenacted section 1239 (Stats. 1982, ch, § 4, p. 3355) and has amended it on two other occasions (Stats. 1975, ch. 1125, § 3, p. 2744; Stats. 1988, ch. 551, § 1, p.2013), but it has never altered section 1239's requirement that [w]hen ... a judgment of death is rendered, an appeal is automatically taken by the defendant. The quoted phrase forms the basis for Stanworth's holding that an appeal of a judgment of death may not be waived. `When a statute has been construed by the courts, and the Legislature thereafter reenacts that statute without changing the interpretation put on that statute by the courts, the Legislature is presumed to have been aware of, and acquiesced in, the courts' construction of that statute.' ( People v. Ledesma (1997) 16 Cal.4th 90, 100-101, 65 Cal.Rptr.2d 610, 939 P.2d 1310; see also Robinson v. Fair Employment & Housing Com. (1992) 2 Cal.4th 226, 235, 5 Cal.Rptr.2d 782, 825 P.2d 767 [In the absence of legislative history suggesting otherwise, there is a very strong presumption that the Legislature intends that the same construction be given statutory language which has been readopted without change.].)