Court Opinion

ID: 9537019
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:11:25.339781+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:55:45.906880
License: Public Domain

*291MOSK, J.
I concur generally, but must dissent from that part of the majority opinion which approves the acceptance of the guilty plea.
I have grave reservations about the use of waiver forms in a felony context. It is much too tempting for harried defense counsel, eager to conclude the case and to get on with the next one, to instruct his client to “sign here, and tell the judge that you have been advised of your rights and understand them.”
In In re Tahl (1969) 1 Cal.3d 122, 132 [81 Cal.Rptr. 577, 460 P.2d 449], we declared that “the record must contain on its face direct evidence that the accused was aware, or made aware, of his right to confrontation, to a jury trial, and against self-incrimination, as well as the nature of the charge and the consequences of his plea. Each must be enumerated and responses elicited from the person of the defendant. ” (Italics in original.) It is true that in Mills v. Municipal Court (1973) 10 Cal.3d 288, 303 [110 Cal.Rptr. 329, 515 P.2d 273], we recognized “the realities of the typical municipal and justice court environment cannot be ignored,” and we permitted deviation from the strict Tahl requirements so long as the spirit of the constitutional principles is respected. (See also In re Johnson (1965) 62 Cal.2d 325, 335-336 [42 Cal.Rptr. 228, 398 P.2d 420].) It cannot be doubted that the inundating flow of human traffic through inferior courts requires modification of the Tahl insistence on a catalogue of individual responses “elicited from the person of the defendant.” But felony proceedings have consequences of much too grave a nature to permit their termination in a manner as casual as a guilty plea to a charge of parking a vehicle in a red zone.
I do not believe Tahl is satisfied by the use of printed forms, although, of course, they may be employed for corroboration of responses given orally in open court. People v. Vidaurri (1980) 103 Cal.App.3d 450 [163 Cal.Rptr. 57], is misguided and should be disapproved. After this majority opinion is published, it is likely that forms will almost universally replace court interrogation of defendants and direct defendant responses, all in the interest of speed and efficiency. When constitutional rights and the understanding of them are involved, I prefer thorough explication and demonstrated comprehension, rather than cold efficiency. The result in this case is a retrogression in criminal court procedures to which I cannot subscribe.
Bird, C. J., and Reynoso, J., concurred.