Court Opinion

ID: 9727027
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:17:37.82929+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:32.484826
License: Public Domain

Opinion
KINGSLEY, J.
Defendant Wong, admittedly an indigent, received a traffic citation for failure to possess proper vehicle registration, in violation of section 4000 of the Vehicle Code. He failed to appear; he was charged with a violation of section 40508 of the Vehicle Code, was arrested, pled guilty and received a fine of $50 plus a penalty assessment of $15. He appealed to the appellate department of the superior court. He sought the appointment of counsel at public expense on that appeal. The appellate department appointed counsel for the limited purpose of briefing his right to such counsel. After consideration of that brief, the appellate department denied the request. We ordered the case transferred under California Rules of Court, rule 62 and appointed counsel. The matter has been briefed and submitted. For the reasons set forth below, we deny the application.1
Although the briefs presented to us discuss a broad range of constitutional matters, we limit our determination in this case to the following issue:
Is an indigent defendant, convicted of a nonmoving traffic offense, which is a misdemeanor, who has received only a fine and penalty of $65, constitutionally entitled to counsel at public expense on his appeal from that fine?
Thus we do not here consider the rights of a defendant convicted of an infraction, or of a misdemeanor moving traffic violation, or of a misdemeanor where the sentence imposed amounted to a term of imprisonment or a fine of a substantial amount.
It is well settled that a defendant charged with any misdemeanor is entitled to counsel, at his own expense, on an appeal from a judgment of conviction.  It is equally well settled that, in California, an *154indigent defendant charged with either a felony or a misdemeanor is entitled to counsel at public expense at his trial. (Mills v. Municipal Court (1973) 10 Cal.3d 288 [110 Cal.Rptr. 329, 515 P.2d 273].)  it is also the law that the same right to counsel exists in the case of an appeal in a felony case (Douglas v. California (1963) 372 U.S. 353 [9 L.Ed.2d 811, 83 S.Ct. 814]) and of an appeal in a misdemeanor case where a sentence of imprisonment has been imposed. (Argersinger v. Hamlin (1972) 407 U.S. 25 [32 L.Ed.2d 530, 92 S.Ct. 2006].)2 We are cited to no cases, and we know of none, that have held that a criminal defendant is entitled to counsel at public expense in situations other than those above listed.
Language in some of the cases above cited, and in other cases following them, has spoken in terms of whether the cases before them exposed a defendant to a “substantial” or “serious” effect. Thus, we leave for a case where it is involved the situation where a misdemeanor defendant has been subjected to a fine so large as to be regarded as “substantial”; as we have said above, we deal only with the case before us where the fine is in minimum amount. For the same reason, we lay aside situations involving moving traffic violations where serious and substantial effects of conviction are collateral consequences,  Contrary to the contention of defense counsel, the record before us does not show that the conviction herein involved will have any collateral consequence; the only consequence in this case is the loss to defendant of $65.
However, the argument here made to us is that, where a defendant is indigent, the payment of a fine, in any amount, involves serious personal consequences. It is argued, also, that, since a defendant in a case such as that before us has an undoubted right to be represented by privately retained counsel, the denial of free counsel to this indigent defendant amounts to a denial of equal protection of the law.
I
It cannot be denied that the payment of a fine, in any amount, has undesirable consequences to any defendant, rich or poor, and that the impact of a fine increases as the personal wealth of the defendant decreases. Nor can it be questioned that distinctions based on wealth alone are within the “suspect” category, as that term is used in *155constitutional law cases. However, the state is not required to provide protection against every minor mishap that may follow from indigency. In the case of a nonindigent defendant, faced with a fine of the amount herein involved imposed for this kind of nonmoving traffic violation, there exists a strong incentive not to appeal unless the case involves some personal reason that makes the defendant willing to undergo the substantial expense of appeal for that highly personal reason. But in the case of an indigent defendant, that limiting incentive will be nonexistent if his appeal may be prosecuted without expense to him. The result, if human nature repeats itself, will be a major increase in the appeals, worthy or not,3 of minor traffic convictions. That trend, as many published reports show, already exists in cases of felony appeals, as we are flooded, almost beyond our powers to decide, with a large number of totally frivolous indigent felony appeals; we are not persuaded to add to that burden on this court a similar burden on the appellate departments. In so saying, we are not basing our decision on any potential increased economic cost to the state; our concern is not with economic cost but with insuring a speedy and reasoned determination of appeals which properly call for the supervisory powers of an appellate court.
The application for the appointment of counsel at public expense is denied. The case is retransferred to the appellate department for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

The appellate department has considered only the question of the right to counsel; it has not yet passed on the merits of the appeal. Having, in this opinion, decided that issue, we retransfer the case to the appellate department for consideration of the merits.

In the federal courts, a person charged with a misdemeanor is entitled to counsel only if the penalty imposed is imprisonment. (Scott v. Illinois (1979) 440 U.S. 367 [59 L.Ed.2d 383, 99 S.Ct. 1158].)

As we have pointed out above, we do not, in this opinion, consider whether the defendant herein involved has, in fact or in law, a valid ground of appeal. The considerations of public policy that lead us to our conclusion do not permit of a system in which the merits of an appeal can be determined prior to the decision to appoint, or not to appoint, free counsel.