Court Opinion

ID: 9791142
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:06:36.796795+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:34.430862
License: Public Domain

RICHARDSON, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I concur in the judgment to the extent that it reverses defendant’s conviction of counts 2, 3, 4 and 5, because these counts were barred by the statute of limitations.
I respectfully dissent, however, from the reversal of counts 1, 6, 7 and 10. My disagreement with the majority, while simple, is very fundamental. In my view, the right to enter a particular plea in a criminal proceeding is that of the defendant alone. It cannot be subjected to the veto of defense counsel. It follows that section 1018 of the Penal Code is unconstitutional, because it unduly restricts the right of self-representation guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution. (See Faretta v. California (1975) 422 U.S. 806 [45 L.Ed.2d 562, 95 S.Ct. 2525].) Accordingly, the majority errs in reversing the judgment as to counts 1, 6, 7 and 10 on the ground that defendant’s counsel refused to consent to defendant’s plea of guilty as required by section 1018.
In Faretta, the United States Supreme Court held that the California courts improperly deprived the defendant of his constitutional right to conduct his own defense when they forced him, against his will, to accept a state-appointed public defender. As the high court stated, “The right to defend is personal. The defendant, and not his lawyer or the State, will bear the personal consequences of a conviction. It is the defendant, therefore, who must be free personally to decide whether in his particular case counsel is to his advantage. And although he may conduct his own defense ultimately to his own detriment, his choice must be honored out of ‘that respect for the individual which is the lifeblood of the law.’ [Citation.]” (422 U.S. at p. 834 [45 L.Ed.2d at p. 581], fn. omitted.)
“The right to defend is personal.” These words hold the key to the issue before us. The majority attempts to distinguish Faretta on the basis that its rule and reasoning extends only to defendants who choose to represent themselves in the course of an adversary criminal trial, rather than to plead guilty before trial. {Ante, p. 751.) Such a distinction is much too narrow. The “right to defend” necessarily encompasses the initial, and uniquely personal, decision whether to mount a defense at the guilt phase. Faretta quoted with evident approval the following ex*760cerpt from Carter v. Illinois (1946) 329 U.S. 173, 174-175 [91 L.Ed. 172, 174, 67 S.Ct. 216], where a similar point was made: “Neither the historic conception of Due Process nor the vitality it derives from progressive standards of justice denies a person the right to defend himself or to confess guilt. Under appropriate circumstances the Constitution requires that counsel be tendered; it does not require that under all circumstances counsel be forced upon a defendant.” (Italics added.) Indeed, the majority herein acknowledges that the self-represented defendant “under Faretta has no duty to ‘present a defense’ but may simply ‘put the state to its proof.... Such a defendant can presumably also take the stand and confess guilt.” (Ante, p. 750, fn. 7, italics added.)
If the right to “take the stand and confess guilt” is constitutionally protected by Faretta from state interference, then surely the comparable right to appear at the arraignment and plead guilty is likewise so protected, for in both cases the defendant makes the personal, fundamental decision, which is his alone to make, to acknowledge his guilt of a criminal offense. Whatever the reason which impelled that critical choice, the Constitution assures that it belongs to the defendant, and to no one else. Prior California authorities have consistently supported this proposition. (See People v. Vaughn (1973) 9 Cal.3d 321, 328 [107 Cal.Rptr. 318, 508 P.2d 318]; In re Williams (1969) 1 Cal.3d 168, 177, fn. 8 [81 Cal.Rptr. 784, 460 P.2d 984]; In re Beaty (1966) 64 Cal.2d 760, 765 [51 Cal.Rptr. 521, 414 P.2d 817]; In re Rose (1965) 62 Cal.2d 384, 390 [42 Cal.Rptr. 236, 398 P.2d 428].) Our most recent expression was in People v. Teron (1979) 23 Cal.3d 103, 115 [151 Cal.Rptr. 633, 588 P.2d 773], wherein, speaking through Justice Tobriner, we said, “Defendant, however, bears no duty to present a defense. He has the right to plead guilty, even against the advice of counsel.” (Italics added.)
This fundamental principle is not only consistent with prior California law, it is supported by sound and careful reasoning with nationwide acceptance. Thus, the American Bar Association, which has adopted certain standards for the administration of criminal justice, includes one which is fully applicable here. Standard 5.2 of the Standards Relating to the Defense Function, entitled “Control and Direction of the Case,” provides in pertinent part that “(a) Certain decisions relating to the conduct of the case are ultimately for the accused and others are ultimately for defense counsel. The decisions which are to be made by the accused after full consultation with counsel are: (i) what plea to enter, *761(ii) whether to waive jury trial; (iii) whether to testify in his own behalf.” (Italics added.) The commentary to standard 5.2 explains that “The history of the criminal process in our system and the rights vested in an accused under the Constitution mark out certain basic decisions as belonging to the client; ... The requirement that the defendant personally enter a guilty plea and that it be voluntary and informed carries the implication that it is the defendant who must make the choice.... Although counsel should not demand that his own view of the desirable course be followed, he is free to engage in fair persuasion and to urge his considered professional opinion on his client. Ultimately, however, because of the fundamental nature of these three decisions, crucial in such basic matters governing his own fate, the decisions on these matters belong to the accused.” (Pp. 238-239, italics added.)
It should be noted that the foregoing standard and its accompanying commentary recognize both the personal, fundamental nature of the decision to plead guilty and its close equivalence to the decision to testify at trial. Contrary to the majority’s analysis, both rights are constitutionally protected by self-representation principles.
The uniquely personal nature of the decision whether or not to plead guilty is readily demonstrated by reviewing some of the legitimate and compelling reasons which might motivate such a plea. The defendant might enter a guilty plea to (1) relieve his conscience through confession and atonement, (2) gain some tactical advantage, including a less severe penalty, (3) avoid the “agony and expense” of an unnecessary and prolonged trial, where the evidence of guilt is overwhelming (see Brady v. United States (1970) 397 U.S. 742, 750 [25 L.Ed.2d 747, 757, 90 S.Ct. 1463]), or (4) spare friends and relatives the spectacle and embarrassment, and perhaps publicity, of a public trial (see United States v. Jackson (1968) 390 U.S. 570, 584 [20 L.Ed.2d 138, 148, 88 S.Ct. 1209]). If he chooses to do so, intelligently and voluntarily, the defendant should have the right to accomplish these ends by pleading guilty. Under the majority’s holding, however, state-appointed counsel can defeat these purposes with impunity by simply declining to consent to the plea. To me it makes no sense to say that a criminal defendant has a constitutional right to take the stand during his trial and freely admit his guilt but if defendant wishes to spare himself the ordeal and embarrassment of trial by pleading guilty before trial his lawyer can prevent his doing so, and this even though he cannot be compelled to accept a lawyer. The majority hold, in short, that defendant may assert his con*762stitutional right to acknowledge his guilt, but only on the condition that he submit to the ordeal of a trial. This result is exceedingly strange, illogical, and inconsistent, particularly so because counsel’s motives in refusing to give his consent may be varied. (See People v. Corona (1978) 80 Cal.App.3d 684, 702-704 [145 Cal.Rptr. 894].)
As stated by Justice Frankfurter in Adams v. U.S. ex rel. McCann (1942) 317 U.S. 269, 276-277 [87 L.Ed.2d 268, 273-274, 63 S.Ct. 236, 143 A.L.R. 435], “It hardly occurred to the framers of the original Constitution and of the Bill of Rights that an accused, acting in obedience to the dictates of self-interest or the promptings of conscience, should be prevented from surrendering his liberty by admitting his guilt. The Constitution does not compel an accused who admits his guilt to stand trial against his own wishes.... And not even now is it suggested that a layman cannot plead guilty unless he has the opinion of a lawyer on the questions of law that might arise if he did not admit his guilt. Plainly, the engrafting of such a requirement upon the Constitution would be a gratuitous dislocation of the processes of justice.” (Italics added.)
In my opinion the state can assert no interest sufficiently compelling to override defendant’s constitutionally protected freedom of choice in the matter of his own plea, so long as that plea is voluntarily and knowingly made, and has a sufficient factual basis (see Pen. Code, § 1192.5). To the contrary, given the overwhelming burdens on our crowded courtrooms, attributable in substantial part to the trial and retrial of numerous capital cases, the public interest is not served by refusing to accept such pleas if properly made. The majority characterizes defendant’s plea as motivated by a desire to “commit suicide.” This rhetoric disregards the record which demonstrates that his competency to enter a voluntary and knowing plea was firmly established in several thorough psychiatric examinations and competency hearings.
In conclusion, I return to the high court’s language in Faretta, where the rationale underlying the whole principle of self-representation is aptly expressed: “The language and spirit of the Sixth Amendment contemplate that counsel, like the other defense tools guaranteed by the Amendment, shall be an aid to a willing defendant—not an organ of the State interposed between an unwilling defendant and his right to defend himself personally. To thrust counsel upon the accused, against his considered wish, thus violates the logic of the Amendment In such a *763case, counsel is not an assistant, but a master; and the right to make a defense is stripped of the personal character upon which the Amendment insists.” (P. 820 [45 L.Ed.2d p. 573], fn. omitted.)
I would affirm the judgment of conviction as to counts 1, 6, 7 and 10.
Clark, J., concurred.
The petitions of both parties for a rehearing were denied March 2, 1981. Clark, J., and Richardson, J., were of the opinion that the respondent’s petition should be granted.