Court Opinion

ID: 9789589
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:38:46.699553+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:23.391984
License: Public Domain

BOOCHEVER, Chief Justice,
with whom RABINOWITZ, Justice, joins, concurring.
I agree generally with the opinion on rehearing but have difficulty with reference to the burden that is placed on the defendant when a pre-sentence report contains harmful allegations of antisocial conduct based on hearsay. The opinion quotes from People v. Chi Ko Wong, 18 Cal.3d 698, 557 P.2d 976, 994, 135 Cal.Rptr. 392, 410 (1976), that: “A mere claim of invalidity is insufficient.” The opinion does not make clear as to what a defendant must do to respond to hearsay allegations. I do not think that it is proper to require a defendant to prove the negative of such allegations. It seems to me that the appropriate procedure would be for' a defendant to deny either orally or in writing allegations in a pre-sentence report which he believes to be untrue. A hearing would then be required at which time the state should present evidence of the disputed allegations. The defendant would also have the opportunity of presenting witnesses of his own and of testifying. The defendant has the right to exercise his fifth amendment rights, in which event, no unfavorable inferences should be made.