Court Opinion

ID: 9550819
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:43:02.583354+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:22:30.979182
License: Public Domain

VALLÉE, J.
I dissent. A court should hear before' it condemns. In my opinion, revocation of the suspension of execution of sentence without reasonable notice to the defendant and an opportunity to be heard on the issue of whether he violated the terms of the suspension—unless after the exercise of reasonable diligence notice cannot be given and an opportunity to be heard cannot be afforded (see People v. Williams, 24 Cal.2d 848, 853 [151 P.2d 244])—constitutes a deprivation of the defendant’s rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and by article I, section 13, of the Constitution of California. In nearly every jurisdiction in which the question has arisen, it has been held that a convicted defendant, released under a suspended sentence, or under a suspension of execution of sentence, is entitled to notice and a hearing on the issue whether he has violated the conditions of the suspension before it may be revoked. See cases collected in 54 A.L.R. 1471; 60 A.L.R. 1420; 132 A.L.R. 1248; 15 Am.Jur. § 500, p. 151. It would be a fruitless task to analyze here each of the many cases from .other jurisdictions cited by the majority. Careful study and analysis of them will readily disclose that few, if any, support the propositions for which they are cited. Scrutiny of the cases directly in point on the subject reveals that the statement found in American Jurisprudence is correct. That statement reads: “In a number of cases the view has been taken that a convicted defendant, released under a suspended sentence, is entitled to notice and a hearing on the issue whether he has broken the conditions of the suspension of sentence, before the suspension may be revoked. This hearing must be according to some well-recognized and established rules of judicial procedure; an affidavit or other pleading setting forth the facts relied on for revocation must be filed, with opportunity to plead to the charge, and the right *147to cross-examine witnesses must be given before revocation can be decreed. ... In a few jurisdictions the revocation of a suspension rests within the discretion of the court, and a prisoner may be compelled at will to serve out his sentence.” (15 Am.Jur. § 500, p. 151.) (Italics added.)
The opinion and decision here are in direct conflict with In re Cook, 67 Cal.App.2d 20 [153 P.2d 578]. In that case it was squarely held that suspension of execution of sentence cannot be revoked without notice to the defendant and an opportunity to be heard. The Cook ease is the only California case in which the constitutional question was directly presented and decided. It is well reasoned, correctly decided, and should be followed.
The reasoning of the majority is specious but beside the point. It accepts as true, as did the city court, the report of the probation officer, of which the defendant was not given notice, and which he was not given an opportunity to refute. Constitutional rights should neither be scuttled nor whittled away because the ease may be a hard one.