Court Opinion

ID: 9727029
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:17:37.838607+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:32.488599
License: Public Domain

*157JEFFERSON (Bernard), J.—
I dissent.
I disagree both with the result and the reasons set forth by the majority and concurring opinions for reaching their result. The majority poses the question before us as follows; “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?”1 The majority answers this question in the negative. I would answer it in the affirmative.
The majority predicates its view primarily upon its conclusion that the fine of $50 plus a $15 penalty assessment, making a total of $65, does not expose the indigent defendant before us to a “substantial” or “serious” effect. The majority considers that the fine imposed in the particular case is of a minimum amount for conviction of a misdemeanor, and that the right to the services of an attorney on appeal by an indigent defendant— convicted of a misdemeanor and receiving only a fine as a sentence— should await a case in which, in the majority’s judgment, the fine would be deemed to be substantial, or, where collateral consequences of the misdemeanor conviction could be said to have serious and substantial effects.
It is true that language can be found in some cases which reflects that the due process and equal protection rights of an indigent defendant to the assistance of counsel on appeal have been predicated upon the nature of the collateral consequences resulting from a conviction. Thus, in In re Henderson (1964) 61 Cal.2d 541 [39 Cal.Rptr. 373, 393 P.2d 685], the court held that a defendant convicted of the misdemeanor of a violation of Penal Code section 647, subdivision (a) (soliciting or engaging in lewd or dissolute conduct in public), and fined and placed on probation for two years, was entitled to the assistance of counsel on appeal. In reaching this conclusion, the Henderson court referred to Douglas v. California (1963) 372 U.S. 353 [9 L.Ed.2d 811, 83 S.Ct. 814], in which the high court, dealing with a felony, held that, if an indigent defendant was denied the assistance of counsel on appeal, “an unconstitutional line is drawn between rich and poor.” (Henderson, supra, 61 Cal.2d 541, 543.)
The Henderson court then proceeded to point out that the misdemean- or conviction before it, although only resulting in a fine, had serious collateral consequences in spite of the fact that the offense constituted a misdemeanor rather than a felony. The collateral consequences were set *158forth as follows: “In addition to the sentence imposed a person convicted of violating that subdivision is disqualified from teaching in public schools and is required to register with a law enforcement agency and to inform the agency of any change of his address. [Citations.]” (Id. at pp. 543-544.) (Italics added.)
The quoted language from Henderson indicates unquestionably that the Henderson court considered that the sentence itself which the Henderson defendant received constituted a serious consequence—the sentence being that of a fine and a two-year probationary period. I consider that Henderson represents persuasive authority for my view that a fine in and of itself is of serious consequence in the case at bench and that refusing the defendant Wong a right to counsel on appeal creates the unacceptable result that “an unconstitutional line is drawn between rich and poor.” (Henderson, supra, 62 Cal.2d 541, 543.)
We are not here dealing with the least serious offense of an infraction as contrasted with the conviction of the more serious offenses denominated felonies and misdemeanors. Pursuant to Vehicle Code section 40000, subdivision (b), a violation of Vehicle Code section 40508, relating to failure to appear or to pay a fine, is expressly made a misdemeanor.2 Since Vehicle Code section 40508 does not expressly provide for a different penalty for violation of this misdemeanor, the penalty is governed by Vehicle Code section 42002, which provides: “Unless a different penalty is expressly provided by this code, every person convicted of a misdemeanor for a violation of any of the provisions of this code shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) or by imprisonment in the county jail for not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.”
The Henderson court’s view that the conviction of a misdemeanor resulting in a fine and probation constitutes a serious consequence that cannot be dismissed as a trivial matter with respect to the right of an indigent defendant to the assistance of counsel was reiterated by the California Supreme Court in Tracy v. Municipal Court (1978) 22 Cal.3d 760 [150 Cal.Rptr. 785, 587 P.2d 227]. Tracy dealt with indigent defendants charged with possession of less than an ounce of marijuana in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11357, subdivision (b), which *159provides in relevant part that “[e]xcept as authorized by law, every person who possesses not more than one avoirdupois ounce of marijuana, other than concentrated cannabis, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars ($100).”
It was argued in Tracy “that despite the Legislature’s deliberate decision to classify the offense as a misdemeanor, it should not carry with it the indicia of such a crime.” (Tracy, supra, 22 Cal.3d 760, 765.) To this argument the court replied: “There is no merit in this contention.” (Id. at p. 765, fn. omitted.) Even though Health and Safety Code section 11357, subdivision (b), made a fine the only punishment for a defendant charged with possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, the Tracy court emphasized that the Legislature had designated the offense a misdemean- or and not an infraction.3
The Tracy court concluded that the Legislature, in designating offenses as misdemeanors, intended to make a clear distinction between misdemeanors and infractions, since many offenses are designated as “misdemeanors” even though such offenses carry fines only. The Tracy court lists a variety of misdemeanors which are made punishable by fines only. “Among the offenses classified as misdemeanors and punishable only by fine are Education Code section 32210 (willful disturbance of public school or public school meeting); Health and Safety Code section 3704 (use of common drinking cups by businesses); section 3803 (use of common towels by businesses); section 11360, subdivision (b) (giving away or transporting less than an ounce of marijuana); Labor Code section 2263 (failure to provide toilet and water facilities to employees in a theatre); Penal Code sections 374b and 374b.5 (dumping or littering roads or property); section 374e (littering waters). The Vehicle Code also contains provisions for only a fine in a number of offenses classified as misdemeanors (e.g., violation of weight regulations, §§ 40000.23, 42030). *160[If] We reject the People’s characterization of these instances as ‘aberrations’ of the statutory scheme.” (Tracy, supra, 22 Cal.3d 760, 766, fn. 5.)
Although Tracy places its holding upon the statutory right of a person charged with a misdemeanor to be entitled to the assistance of court-appointed counsel (see Pen. Code, § 686), and expresses no opinion on the constitutional issues raised by the parties, the reasoning set forth in Tracy and in Henderson leads me to conclude that, by virtue of the constitutional principles of due process of law and equal protection of the laws, the defendant before us is entitled to the assistance of counsel on his appeal from his conviction of violating section 40508, subdivision (a), of the Vehicle Code.
The majority in the case at bench takes the view that to provide the indigent defendant before us with assistance of counsel on appeal would be providing protection against every “minor mishap” that may follow from indigency. It is the view of the majority that a nonin digent defendant faced with a $65 fine would have a strong incentive not to appeal because of the substantial expense involved, while an indigent defendant in the same situation would not have such an incentive to forego an appeal. I consider this reasoning totally untenable and unpersuasive. It is pure speculation and conjecture by the majority in assigning a monetary consideration as the reason why defendants do not appeal, whether they be nonin digent defendants or indigent defendants.
The majority’s emphasis upon the amount of the fine that results from a defendant’s conviction is a misplaced emphasis. The consequence facing a defendant charged with violating Vehicle Code section 40508 is not simply that of a fine only, which exists for many misdemeanors as explained in Tracy. Since Vehicle Code section 42002 governs the punishment for a misdemeanor proscribed as a violation of section 40508 of the Vehicle Code, a defendant so charged is faced with the possibility of being convicted of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment in the county jail up to a period of six months or by a fine up to $500, or by both such fine and imprisonment. The misdemeanor involved in the case at bench is thus a misdemeanor of substantial and serious consequences.
Since the majority considers that a fine of $65 is simply a “minor mishap” to an indigent defendant, I pose the question of what amount of a fine would be considered a “nonminor” mishap to indigent defendants. If the defendant before us had been fined $150, would the majority consider such a fine to be of serioixs consequence to entitle the defendant to assistance of counsel on appeal? Or would the majority require the full *161limit of $500 before the majority would accord the defendant assistance of counsel on appeal?
I simply cannot agree with the majority view that a $65 fine (including the penalty assessment) to an indigent defendant is neither substantial nor of serious consequence. I repeat here the view I espoused in my dissent in People v. Lucas (1978) 82 Cal.App.3d 47, 58 [147 Cal.Rptr. 235]: “In considering such fines nonsubstantial, the majority speaks from the vantage point of the upper middle class affluent citizens of California. But to a large segment of California’s population, the poor and especially the minorities who make up a great portion of that segment, that fall into the category of the less-affluent, fines of $50, $100 or $250 are substantial, and even catastrophic in many instances. To consider such penalties for criminal violations a matter of insignificant importance is simply to ignore reality and to be immune to the financial conditions of a large segment of California residents.”
The majority also relies upon the economic cost of litigation as a basis for denying the indigent defendant before us the right to counsel on appeal. I do not share the view that the cost of litigation can constitutionally be applied to deny an indigent defendant the right of an attorney on appeal when such defendant seeks to overturn his misdemeanor conviction, while a nonindigent defendant has the means of hiring an attorney in an effort to overturn the latter’s misdemeanor conviction. Even though the penalty is only a fine, a defendant convicted of violating Vehicle Code section 40508 stands convicted of a serious criminal offense—a misdemeanor rather than an infraction. To have one’s record sullied with a misdemeanor conviction which he considers is undeserved and unmeritorious should not be looked upon as uncorrectible by denying the right to counsel on appeal because of the economic cost of litigation.
In the first place, the additional cost to the justice system in providing indigent defendants with the assistance of counsel on appeals from misdemeanor convictions such as we have in the case at bench is highly speculative and conjectural. If the economic cost of providing counsel for indigent defendants on appeals from misdemeanor convictions resulting in fines only becomes substantial, one remedy might well be for the Legislature to change the law to make such violations infractions which would not carry the same stigma of criminal convictions, such as the conviction of a felony or misdemeanor entails.
I agree with the rejection of the economic-cost-of-litigation argument set forth by three of the dissenting justices in Scott v. Illinois (1979) 440 *162U.S. 367 [59 L.Ed.2d 383, 99 S.Ct. 1158], There, the dissent observed: “This Court’s role in enforcing constitutional guarantees for criminal defendants cannot be made dependent on the budgetary decisions of state governments. A unanimous Court made that clear in Mayer v. City of Chicago, 404 U.S. 189, 196-197 (1971), in rejecting a proposed fiscal justification for providing free transcripts for appeals only when the appellant was subject to imprisonment: [H] ‘This argument misconceives the principle of Griffin [v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12 (1956)] .... Griffin does not represent a balance between the needs of the accused and the interests of society; its principle is a flat prohibition against pricing indigent defendants out of as effective an appeal as would be available to others able to pay their own way. The invidiousness of the discrimination that exists when criminal procedures are made available only to those who can pay is not erased by any differences in the sentences that may be imposed. The State’s fiscal interest is, therefore, irrelevant.’ ” (Id. at p. 384 [59 L.Ed.2d at p. 396]; fns. omitted.) (Dis. opn. of Brennan, J.)
I would thus grant the motion for appointment of counsel.
Appellant’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied July 19, 1979. Bird, C. J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

See page 153, ante.

Vehicle Code section 40000 was repealed, effective May 3, 1972. (Stats. 1971, ch. 1178, § 2, p. 2245.) Vehicle Code section 40000.25, added in 1971, provides, as did section 40000, that a violation of Vehicle Code section 40508 shall constitute a misdemeanor, and not an infraction. (See Stats. 1971, ch. 1178, § 14, p. 2247; Stats. 1973, ch. 1162, § 3, p. 2419; Stats. 1978, ch. 1350, § 1.)

Pursuant to Penal Code section 16, the Legislature has decreed that crimes and public offenses shall be divided into the following categories: (1) felonies; (2) misdemeanors; and (3) infractions. Penal Code section 17, subdivision (a), provides: “A felony is a crime which is punishable with death or by imprisonment in the state prison. Every other crime or public offense is a misdemeanor except those offenses that are classified as infractions.” That an infraction is considered in a different category than felonies or misdemeanors, irrespective of whether the misdemeanor carries only a fine for punishment, is reflected in the provisions of Penal Code section 19c, which provides: “An infraction is not punishable by imprisonment. A person charged with an infraction shall not be entitled to a trial by jury. A person charged with an infraction shall not be entitled to have the public defender or other counsel appointed at public expense to represent him unless he is arrested and not released on his written promise to appear, his own recognizance, or a deposit of bail.”