Court Opinion

ID: 9577128
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:31:58.085001+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:20:00.624861
License: Public Domain

MOSK, J.
I dissent.
Courts must construe statutory language according to its ordinary meaning (Alexander v. Superior Court (1993) 5 Cal.4th 1218, 1225 [23 Cal.Rptr.2d 397, 859 P.2d 96]) whenever possible. The majority, relying on what they term “definitional diversity” (maj. opn., ante, at p. 95), have yielded to the temptation to interpret a statute contrary to the plain meaning of its words. In my view, “may,” as used in Penal Code section 12022.5 (hereafter section 12022.5), subdivision (d), means that trial courts are permitted, but not required, to impose a firearm use enhancement when the defendant stands convicted of an assault with personal use of a firearm (Pen. Code, § 245). The majority construe it to mean the court must impose the enhancement. I cannot agree.
The relevant statutory provisions are subdivisions (a)(1) and (d) of section 12022.5. Subdivision (a)(1) provides: “Except as provided in subdivisions (b) and (c), any person who personally uses a firearm in the commission or attempted commission of a felony shall, upon conviction of that felony or attempted felony, in addition and consecutive to the punishment prescribed for the felony or attempted felony of which he or she has been convicted, be punished by an additional term of imprisonment in the state prison for 3, 4, or 10 years, unless use of a firearm is an element of the offense of which he or she was convicted.” (Italics added.) The provision was not materially different on March 9, 1993, when defendant committed his crime.
Section 12022.5, subdivision (d) creates an exception to subdivision (a)’s exception. It provides in pertinent part: “The additional term provided by this section may be imposed in cases of assault with a firearm under paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 245, or assault with a deadly weapon which is a firearm under Section 245 . . . .” (Italics added.) This language was identical at the time of defendant’s crime.
“In providing this exception the Legislature used the permissive word ‘may’ rather than a mandatory word such as ‘shall.’” (People v. Beagle *103(1972) 6 Cal.3d 441, 452 [99 Cal.Rptr. 313, 492 P.2d 1] [speaking of a different statutory provision].) We should, as did Beagle, “conclude that the choice of the language leaves the trial court with discretion . . . .” (Ibid.) As Chief Justice Wright understood in deciding Beagle, in ordinary usage may refers to the permissive and shall to the mandatory. Although the majority acknowledge this difference, they seize on evidently rare instances in which courts have found that may refers to the mandatory. Hence the majority’s “definitional diversity” and their conclusion that “it is impossible to conclude with sufficient certainty what the Legislature intended by its use of ‘may’ if we consider the word in isolation.” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 95.)
But may is ordinarily understood to refer to permission. (Webster’s Third New Internat. Dict. (1981) p. 1396 [“have permission to”]; Webster’s New Internat. Dict. (2d ed. 1959) p. 1517 [“[l]iberty; opportunity; permission”]; see also Black’s Law Dict. (6th ed. 1990) p. 979, col. 2.)
To be sure, this definition is not exclusive. May sometimes refers to the mandatory when “used esp. in deeds, contracts, and statutes” (Webster’s Third New Internat. Dict., supra, at p. 1396). But such a definition is unusual—it is not common parlance. Moreover, it is technical and is not to be followed if we can construe a statute in accordance with its words’ standard meanings (see People v. Valladoli (1996) 13 Cal.4th 590, 597 [54 Cal.Rptr.2d 695, 918 P.2d 999]), for “courts ordinarily give the words of a statute the usual, everyday meaning they have in lay speech” (Arnett v. Dal Cielo (1996) 14 Cal.4th 4, 19 [56 Cal.Rptr.2d 706, 923 P.2d 1]).
Our codes routinely distinguish between shall and may. (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 19 [“ ‘Shall’ is mandatory and ‘may’ is permissive.”]; Corp. Code, § 15 [same]; Ed. Code, § 75 [same]; Elec. Code, § 354 [same]; Evid. Code, §11 [same]; Fam. Code, § 12 [same, in pertinent part]; Fin. Code, § 15 [same]; Fish & G. Code, § 79 [same]; Food & Agr. Code, § 47 [to same effect]; Gov. Code, § 14 [same]; Harb. & Nav. Code, § 16 [same]; Lab. Code, § 15 [same]; Mil. & Vet. Code, § 14 [same]; Prob. Code, § 12 [same]; Pub. Resources Code, § 15 [same]; Pub. Util. Code, § 14 [same]; Rev. & Tax. Code, § 16 [same]; Sts. & Hy. Code, § 16 [same]; Unemp. Ins. Code, § 15 [same]; Veh. Code, § 15 [same]; Wat. Code, § 15 [same]; Welf. & Inst. Code, § 15 [same]; cf. Ins. Code, § 16 [to same effect “unless otherwise apparent from the context”].) The Legislature is well aware of the standard meanings of these words.
The majority state that the Penal Code contains no similar definitional statute. Are they suggesting that the Legislature meant that different definitions of shall and may should apply to the Penal Code? If so, I disagree.
*104The ordinary meanings of these words are also reflected in case law. I have already cited People v. Beagle, supra, 6 Cal.3d 441. Other decisions support Beagle's reasoning. “The ordinary import of ‘may’ is a grant of discretion.” (In re Richard E. (1978) 21 Cal.3d 349, 354 [146 Cal.Rptr. 604, 579 P.2d 495].) “The word ‘shall’ is ordinarily ‘used in laws, regulations, or directives to express what is mandatory.’ (Webster’s New Internat. Dict., Unabridged (3d ed. 1966) p. 2085, col. 3; [citations].) ‘May,’ on the other hand, is usually permissive. The Legislature is very aware of the distinction . . . .” (Hogya v. Superior Court (1977) 75 Cal.App.3d 122, 133 [142 Cal.Rptr. 325].)
Section 12022.5 uses shall 11 times. To recite a few instances, “any person who personally uses a firearm in the commission or attempted commission of a felony shall ... be punished by an additional term of imprisonment. . . .” (Subd. (a)(1), italics added.) If the person is convicted of carjacking, “the additional term shall be 4, 5, or 10 years.” (Subd. (a)(2), italics added.) A person committing or attempting to commit a felony by shooting at an occupied vehicle, and causing great bodily injury or death, “shall ... be punished by an additional term of . . . 5, 6, or 10 years.” (Subd. (b)(1), italics added.)
By contrast, may appears in section 12022.5 but once: subdivision (d) provides that “[t]he additional term provided by this section may be imposed in cases of assault with a firearm . . . .” (Italics added.) A compelling inference thus arises that in section 12022.5 the Legislature intended two different meanings for shall and may, and they are the meanings commonly associated with the two words. “When the Legislature has, as here, used both ‘shall’ and ‘may’ in close proximity in a particular context, we may fairly infer the Legislature intended mandatory and discretionary meanings, respectively.” (In re Richard E., supra, 21 Cal.3d at pp. 353-354.)
The meaning of may in section 12022.5, subdivision (d), is clear: A trial court is permitted to impose the enhancement term, but is not required to do so. I would reverse the Court of Appeal’s judgment.
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied October 1,1997. Mosk, J., was of the opinion that petition should be granted.