Court Opinion

ID: 9615617
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:39:03.847656+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:49.773496
License: Public Domain

BIRD, C. J., Dissenting.
I write separately because under the law a court must grant a motion to strike a prior if the record of that prior does not comply with Boykin-Tahl.
Presiding Justice Stone so ably pointed out why this is so in his opinion in the Court of Appeal. The relevant portion of his opinion is as follows:
“[P]rior to Boykin-Tahl the law in California held that if an accused person was represented by counsel at the time of a guilty plea it was presumed that counsel informed him of his constitutional rights in absence of evidence to the contrary[. T]he burden on [the] defendant to make a ‘clear allegation’ that his constitutional rights were infringed and to produce evidence thereof was removed by Boykin v. Alabama and In re Tahl. (See, In re Tahl, [(1969)], 1 Cal.3d 122, 127-129 [132-133].)
‘In the case of In re Tahl, supra, 1 Cal.3d 122, [] Boykin [was construed] to require more than an inferential showing from the record that an accused waived his constitutional rights [1] to confront accusers, [2] to trial by jury, and [3] against compulsory self-incrimination. . . . [T]he court itself must *926“specifically and expressly” enumerate each of his rights, “employ the time necessary to explain adequately and to obtain express waiver of the rights involved” prior to acceptance of a guilty plea, and ensure that an adequate record be available for possible review. [Citations.]’ (In re Yurko (1974) 10 Cal.3d 857, 861 [112 Cal.Rptr. 513, 519 P.2d 561]. Italics added.)
Salazar v. Municipal Court (1975) 44 Cal.App.3d 1024 [119 Cal.Rptr. 98], cited by respondent for the proposition that appellant made insufficient allegations of constitutional deficiency of the prior conviction, held that the silent record was insufficient only because the prior conviction in Salazar was subject to law in existence ‘before Boykin-Tahl-Mills mandated that the record itself must affirmatively indicate a guilty plea was voluntarily and intelligently entered . . . .’ (44 Cal.App.3d at p. 1026.)
All that is necessary is that defendant give sufficient notice that he is challenging the alleged prior conviction on Boykin-Tahl grounds to enable the prosecution to obtain the necessary records. Once the appellant herein challenged the prior convictions by motion to strike on Boykin-Tahl grounds, the burden was on the prosecution to establish the facial sufficiency of the record as to the constitutional validity, i.e., that the record contained ‘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[.] ...’ (In re Tahl, supra, 1 Cal.3d at p. 132.) They failed to do so. (See People v. Guevara (1980) 111 Cal.App.3d Supp. 19 [169 Cal.Rptr. 19].)
Either a prior conviction is constitutionally valid or it is not. . . . [U]nder Boykin-Tahl and their progeny, a record which fails to contain full admonishment and waivers of forfeited constitutional rights will suffice in itself to render a prior conviction unconstitutional^] [Thus, the court must strike a prior whenever the record is silent as to any constitutional right.]
[T]he trial court erred in finding appellant’s prior conviction constitutionally valid for sentence enhancement purposes[.]”
Appellant’s petition for a rehearing was denied November 29, 1984.