Court Opinion

ID: 9853422
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:48:28.030007+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:22:47.332698
License: Public Domain

BIRD, C. J., Dissenting.
Justice Mosk is correct in his critique of the majority’s position for it not only conflicts with the plain meaning of the word “court” throughout the Penal Code, it conflicts with legislative intent. In 1975, the Legislature enacted Senate Bill No. 487, adding to Penal Code, section 1387 the language which bars the multiple refiling of felony prosecutions. (Stats. 1975, ch. 1069, § 1, p. 2615.) The bill digests prepared in connection with Senate Bill No. 487 in both the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and the Senate Committee on the Judiciary state that the purpose of the 1975 amendment was to “prevent abuses in the dismissal and reinstatement of felony prosecutions . . . .” (Bill digest, Sen. Bill No. 487, Assem. Com. on Criminal Justice, *7621975-1976 Reg. Sess.; bill digest, Sen. Bill No. 487, Sen. Com. on Judiciary, 1975-1976 Reg. Sess.) Moreover, the letter of transmittal for Senate Bill No. 487 from the bill’s author to the Governor (cf., In re Marriage of Morrison (1978) 20 Cal.3d 437, 447, fn. 6 [143 Cal.Rptr. 139, 573 P.2d 41]) reemphasizes this purpose by pointing out that “the process of dismissing and refiling has been used in rare cases as a method of harassment. The District Attorneys’ Association agrees that such harassment should not be permitted.” (Letter of Sept. 12, 1975, from Senator Alfred H. Song to Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr.)
The majority concede that the two dismissals and refilings constitute “harassment of defendant in this case.” (Maj. opn., ante, fn. 1, at p. 751.) However, they go on to conclude that the Legislature did not intend to prevent this harassment. Nothing in the legislative history of Senate Bill No. 487 supports their conclusion. To rely on an ambiguous document written in connection with a separate Penal Code section over one quarter of a century prior to Senate Bill No. 487 is contrary to reason. Further, it leads to the highly questionable conclusion that a magistrate has no statutory power to dismiss any felony case, even upon motion of the prosecutor!1 For example, if a felony complaint is pending and the prosecutor determines that the accused is innocent, based on new evidence, the complaint may not be dismissed under the majority’s holding. Surely, this was not the intent of the Legislature.
Ignored in the majority’s discussion is the real issue, i.e., what did the Legislature intend when it enacted Senate Bill No. 487 in 1975? As Justice Mosk has so eloquently pointed out, if the legislative purpose of Penal Code section 1387 is considered, it is clear the result of the majority was never intended.
Respondent’s petition for a rehearing was denied August 30, 1978. Bird, C. J., Tobriner, J., and Mosk, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

Penal Code section 1386 provides in relevant part that “neither the Attorney General nor the District Attorney can discontinue or abandon a prosecution for a public offense, except as provided in [Penal Code section 1385].”