Court Opinion

ID: 9851234
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:09:14.679967+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:51.772143
License: Public Domain

LUCAS, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I concur in the judgment to the extent it affirms defendant’s conviction of two counts of robbery, four counts of possession of a concealable weapon by an ex-felon, and one count of assault with a deadly weapon.
I dissent, however, to the reversal of defendant’s first degree murder conviction and a related robbery count, and to the setting aside of the special circumstances finding and penalty judgment. In my view, defendant’s plea of guilty to the murder and robbery counts was valid, being made with the requisite consent of his counsel. (Pen. Code, § 1018.)
Defendant committed his robbery-murder of Boris Naumoff on January 3, 1979. By reason of today’s decision, upsetting defendant’s guilty plea, the People must attempt to reconstruct and bring to trial a capital case nearly seven years old. Predictably, that task may prove quite difficult by reason of the passage of time. Because of the defendant’s guilty plea, no trial record exists to aid in the task of reconstruction. In light of defendant’s proven proclivity for committing armed robbery and shooting to death his resisting victims (see People v. Massie (1967) 66 Cal.2d 899 [59 Cal.Rptr. 733, 428 P.2d 869] [death penalty upheld for a 1965 robbery-murder]), it would be most unfortunate if the People were unable to bring defendant to justice for his present offenses. In light of defendant’s valid guilty plea thereto, a belated trial of those offenses should be entirely unnecessary.
Penal Code section 1018 provides that a guilty plea in a capital case shall not be received “without the consent of the defendant’s counsel.” In People v. Chadd (1981) 28 Cal.3d 739, 747-754 [170 Cal.Rptr. 798, 621 P.2d 837], we upheld the constitutionality of section 1018, rejecting a claim that the section improperly interfered with the accused’s constitutional right of self-representation. (See Faretta v. California (1975) 422 U.S. 806 [45 L.Ed.2d 562, 95 S.Ct. 2525].) In doing so, we emphasized the state’s strong interest in assuring the accuracy and fairness of all criminal proceedings, and particularly capital cases.
We observed in Chadd that, by reason of section 1018 and its requirement that counsel consent to entry of a guilty plea in a capital case, “we may safely assume it uncommon that an attorney who has advised a capital de*627fendant against pleading guilty will consent to allow his client to act contrary to that advice and to counsel’s professional judgment as to his client’s best interests. It follows that since the 1973 amendment [to section 1018] a capital defendant is no longer permitted to plead guilty in this state against the advice of his attorney.” (28 Cal.3d at pp. 749-750, fn. omitted, italics added.)
The present case represents the “uncommon” exception to the general rule mentioned in Chadd. Here, although trial counsel had advised his client against pleading guilty and had carefully explained the disadvantages of such a plea, he ultimately, though reluctantly, consented to the plea. The majority holds that counsel’s begrudging consent was ineffective, but I find no proper basis for so holding. Although counsel informed the court that he had advised his client not to plead guilty, the fact remains that counsel did consent. Counsel appears to have consented to the plea based upon the prosecution’s overwhelming case against defendant, including his own confession. Counsel might have believed that the best tactic would be to forego a pointless guilt phase trial in the hope that defendant’s attitude of cooperation and remorse would result in an exercise of mercy at the penalty phase.
The record indicates that defendant’s change of plea occurred immediately after the trial court upheld the admissibility of defendant’s confession, which had been challenged as involuntary. Trial counsel confirmed that the guilty plea “is offered as results [sic] of discussions with my client, and we have discussed the matter carefully.” After indicating to the court that he had advised defendant not to plead guilty, but that his client remained “adamant,” the court inquired whether “for that reason, you do not withhold your consent; is that correct?” Counsel replied, “That is correct, your Hon- or. And I don’t see that we can go any further with this matter with the state of the case as it is and my client’s wishes.” (Italics added.) Thus, contrary to the majority’s assertion, the record discloses that trial counsel did not simply accede to his client’s demands without an independent appraisal of the consequences of a guilty plea. As the record indicates, counsel’s consent to the guilty plea was based at least in part upon counsel’s realization that the People had marshalled a very strong case against his client.
The majority suggests that neither the trial court nor defense counsel “was aware of counsel’s duty to exercise independent judgment” regarding the guilty plea. (Ante, pp. 624-625.) This suggestion improperly slurs the competence and intelligence of both court and counsel: Section 1018 expressly provides in pertinent part that “No plea of guilty [in a capital case] . . . shall be received from a defendant who does not appear with counsel, nor *628shall any such plea be received without the consent of the defendant’s counsel. ” (Italics added.) How can the majority so readily assume that neither court nor counsel understood their plain statutory obligations?
Thus, the present record fails to show on its face that trial counsel’s consent was obtained through mistake, inadvertence or any other reason than proper tactical considerations. Under such circumstances, we should uphold the plea. If there were indeed some doubt about counsel’s competence in consenting to the plea, habeas corpus rather than appeal would represent the proper remedy for exploring the issue. (See People v. Pope (1979) 23 Cal.3d 412, 426 [152 Cal.Rptr. 732, 590 P.2d 859, 2 A.L.R.4th 1].) No habeas petition was filed in this case.
I conclude that trial counsel’s consent to defendant’s guilty plea was valid and effective. Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment in its entirety.
Mosk, J., concurred.