Court Opinion

ID: 9788427
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 00:52:06.959361+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:02.194833
License: Public Domain

BAXTER, J., Concurring.
I agree, of course, with the reasoning and result of the majority opinion, which I authored. Under existing law and practice, and on the facts of this case, the majority’s holding is correct. I do believe, however, that the current “certificate of probable cause” system for discouraging baseless appeals from negotiated pleas (Pen. Code, § 1237.5;1 Cal. Rules of Court, rule 31(d) (rule 31(d)) is not working well. The result is a substantial burden on the time and resources of our already overextended court system. This should always be a cause for concern, but it is especially serious now, when the state faces unprecedented fiscal difficulties. I write separately to offer some suggestions for improvement.
At the outset, and most fundamentally, the parties to a plea agreement should, if possible, expressly negotiate and resolve the issue of appealability. A prime reason why we conclude here that defendant Buttram may take his appeal without a certificate, and that the Court of Appeal must address it on the merits, is that Buttram’s plea is silent on the appealability of the trial court’s sentencing choice.
Yet it is well settled that a plea bargain may include a waiver of the right to appeal. For example, in People v. Panizzon (1996) 13 Cal.4th 68 [51 Cal.Rptr.2d 851, 913 P.2d 1061] (Panizzon), the defendant’s written plea *792agreement included a specific sentence and also “ ‘waive[d] and [gave] up [his] right to appeal from the sentence [he] [would] receive . . . ” (Id. at p. 82.) We held that this waiver was valid and enforceable, and that the defendant had thereby forfeited his right to appeal the agreed sentence on grounds that it constituted cruel and unusual punishment. (Id. at pp. 79-84.)
As we indicated in Panizzon, “The negotiated plea agreement, which results in the waiver of important constitutional rights, ‘is an accepted and integral part of our criminal justice system.’ [Citations.] Such agreements benefit the system by promoting speed, economy and finality of judgments. [Citation.] [1] . . . Just as a defendant may affirmatively waive constitutional rights to a jury trial, to confront and cross-examine witnesses, to the privilege against self-incrimination, and to counsel as a consequence of a negotiated plea agreement, so also may a defendant waive the right to appeal as part of the agreement. [Citations.] [If] To be enforceable, a defendant’s waiver of the right to appeal must be knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. [Citations.] Waivers may be manifested either orally or in writing. [Citation.] The voluntariness of the waiver is a question of law which appellate courts review de novo. [Citation.]” (Panizzon, supra, 13 Cal.4th 68, 79-80, fn. omitted.)2
To encourage specific resolution of this issue in plea agreements does not disfavor defendants. Relative bargaining strengths vary from case to case, and parties must always assess what rights and benefits they are willing to forfeit in return for others. In one case, the prosecution might make significant concessions in return for an appeal waiver. In another, it may be in no position to insist upon such conditions. In still another, the defendant may be able to win the express right to appeal. Of course, the parties may decide to leave the agreement silent on the subject. I suggest only that appealability should be a specific topic of discussion, and that the parties’ intent on that issue should be reflected in the agreement wherever the parties are able to resolve it expressly. •
If Buttram’s bargain had included an express waiver of appeal, a number of consequences would flow.
*793First, an attempt to appeal the sentence notwithstanding the waiver would necessarily be an attack on an express term, and thus on the validity, of the plea. (See Panizzon, supra, 13 Cal.4th 68, 76.) A certificate of probable cause would therefore be necessary to make the appeal “operative,” and in the absence of a certificate, the superior court clerk would not be put to the time and expense of preparing a record on appeal. (See People v. Jones (1995) 10 Cal.4th 1102, 1108 [43 Cal.Rptr.2d 464, 898 P.2d 910] (Jones).) If a record were nonetheless prepared and transmitted, the Court of Appeal could still dismiss the appeal for lack of a certificate, without having to address its merits.
An attempt to appeal the enforceability of the appellate waiver itself (for example, on grounds that it was not knowing, voluntary, and intelligent, or had been induced by counsel’s ineffective assistance) would not succeed in circumventing the certificate requirement. This is because, however important and meritorious such a challenge might be, it too would manifestly constitute an attack on the plea’s validity, thus requiring a certificate in any event.
Such “[a] strict application of section 1237.5 works no undue hardship on defendants with potentially meritorious appeals. The showing required to obtain a certificate is not stringent. Rather, the test applied by the trial court is simply ‘whether the appeal is clearly frivolous and vexatious or whether it involves an honest difference of opinion.’ (People v. Ribero (1971) 4 Cal.3d 55, 63, fn. 4 [92 Cal.Rptr. 692, 480 P.2d 308].) Moreover, a defendant who files a sworn statement of appealable grounds as required by section 1237.5, but fails to persuade the trial court to issue a probable cause certificate, has the remedy of filing a timely petition for a writ of mandate [seeking review of the refusal to issue the certificate]. (In re Brown (1973) 9 Cal.3d 679, 683 [108 Cal.Rptr. 801, 511 P.2d 1153]; People v. Castelan (1995) 32 Cal.App.4th 1185, 1188 [38 Cal.Rptr.2d 574]; People v. Nigro (1974) 39 Cal.App.3d 506, 511 [114 Cal.Rptr. 213].) Thus, if he complies with section 1237.5, a defendant has ample opportunity to perfect his appeal.” (People v. Cole (2001) 88 Cal.App.4th 850, 860, fn. 3 [106 Cal.Rptr.2d 174].) Moreover, if all else fails, the most fundamental kinds of attack remain available on habeas corpus.
Second, even if the defendant obtained a certificate, and the appeal was thereby made operative (Jones, supra, 10 Cal.4th 1102, 1108), the express waiver of appeal would permit the appellate court to decline to address the defendant’s claim on the merits, assuming that after de novo review, it found the waiver knowing, voluntary, and intelligent (see Panizzon, supra, 13 Cal.4th 68, 80). Thus, inclusion of express appeal waivers in plea agreements, when they reflect the parties’ actual intent, has the potential to *794minimize the time and cost, both for the parties themselves and for trial and appellate courts, of processing unwarranted postplea appeals. For this reason, it seems entirely appropriate to encourage the parties to address that issue in their plea negotiations.
I have particular concern about the need to save resources by foreclosing truly unwarranted postplea appeals at the earliest possible stage of processing. A principal purpose of the postplea certificate statute, section 1237.5, is “to promote judicial economy ‘by screening out wholly frivolous guilty [and nolo contendere] plea appeals before time and money [are] spent preparing the record and the briefs for consideration by the reviewing court.’ (People v. Hoffard (1995) 10 Cal.4th 1170, 1179 [43 Cal.Rptr.2d 827, 899 P.2d 896]; see People v. Ballard (1985) 174 Cal.App.3d 982, 987-988 [220 Cal.Rptr. 323].)” (Panizzon, supra, 13 Cal.4th 68, 75-76, italics added.)
But current practice under rule 31(d) sometimes frustrates that goal, and changes may be justified. The rule’s second paragraph allows a postplea appeal to proceed without a statement of reasonable grounds for appeal and a certificate of probable cause if the notice of appeal states that it is based upon so-called noncertificate grounds, i.e., those “(1) occurring after entry of the plea which do not challenge its validity or (2) involving a search and seizure, the validity of which was contested pursuant to section 1538.5 of the Penal Code.” (Italics added.)
Many superior courts have developed standard postplea notice-of-appeal forms that allow appealing postplea defendants simply to check boxes reflecting these two noncertificate categories, without, any explanation or elaboration.3 Court clerks presumably (and understandably) rely on the representations made on these forms when deciding whether they have a ministerial duty to prepare the record, pursuant to rule 31(d), even though the requirements of section 1237.5 have not been met. We ourselves may have exacerbated the problem by making the “validity of the plea” issue so complicated (see People v. Lloyd (1998) 17 Cal.4th 658, 667-668 [72 Cal.Rptr.2d 224, 951 P.2d 1191] (dis. opn. of Brown, J.)), and by imposing lenient standards for compliance with rule 31(d) (see Lloyd, supra, at pp. 664-665 (maj. opn.) [notice of appeal included handwritten notation “Rule 31(d)”; printed word “judgment” was crossed out and replaced with handwritten word “sentence”]). As a result, the system often does not realize that a certificate should have been obtained until well after the record and briefs have been filed in the Court of Appeal.
*795I have no magic solution to this quandary, but the Legislature and the Judicial Council should explore it. One approach might be to amend section 1237.5 and rule 31(d), (1) to require postplea notice-of-appeal forms to conform more strictly to the rule’s own language, (2) to state that noncomplying notices shall not be effective, and (3) to require that attorney representations on such forms be made to the best of the attorney’s knowledge and belief, but nonetheless under penalty of perjury. It would be difficult, for example, for an attorney whose client had waived an appeal as part of a plea bargain to state under penalty of perjury that the appeal did not attack “the validity of the plea,” thus obviating the certificate requirement.4
It may also be advisable to require the superior court to resolve, at a judicial rather than a clerical level, whether a certificate is required in a particular case. The law mandates that the decision whether to issue a certificate be made by a judge of that court. On the other hand, under current procedures, if a postplea defendant believes he is pursuing an appeal for which a certificate is not required, he need only say so on a form filed with the superior court clerk. His representation will be accepted without question, his appeal will become operative, and the appellate record will be prepared and transmitted. The People, also a party to the plea, have no opportunity in the trial court to dispute the defendant’s claim of exemption from the certificate requirement. Indeed, that claim is never subjected to judicial scrutiny unless the issue arises in the Court of Appeal, after the appellate record and briefs have been prepared. Addressing the exemption issue in a superior court proceeding would involve some extra judicial time, but the drain on judicial resources might be less in the long run.
I commend these ideas for consideration in appropriate quarters. Other approaches may be equally or more valuable. But I am quite certain that problems have arisen in the system for screening postplea appeals, and that carefully crafted reforms in practice and procedure may well be in order.
Chin, J., concurred.

A11 further unlabeled statutory references are to the Penal Code.

The federal courts generally agree that a plea bargain may include a waiver of the right to appeal. Some federal tribunals “have delineated specific instances in which waiver-of-appeal provisions may be found invalid” (U.S. v. Khattak (3d Cir. 2001) 273 F.3d 557, 562), but as of 2001, all 11 numbered federal circuits had “found waivers of appeal generally permissible and enforceable. [Citations.]” (Id. at pp. 560-561.) “As the Supreme Court has stated, ‘A criminal defendant may knowingly and voluntarily waive many of the most fundamental protections afforded by the Constitution.’ United States v. Mezzanatto, 513 U.S. 196, 201, 115 S.Ct. 797, 130 L.Ed.2d 697 (1995); see also Peretz v. United States, 501 U.S. 923, 936, 111 S.Ct. 2661, 115 L.Ed.2d 808 (1991) (‘The most basic rights of criminal defendants are . . . subject to waiver.’).” (Khattak, supra, at p. 561.)

Apparently the Judicial Council has developed no mandatory form to be used statewide in such circumstances. (See West’s Cal. Rules of Court (State) (2003 ed.) Div. III (Judicial Council Legal Forms List) pp. 579, 585.)

I leave open whether equally stringent requirements should apply to defendants who prepare and file their own appeal papers, without the assistance of attorneys.