Court Opinion

ID: 9583184
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:35:44.420122+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:38:52.516632
License: Public Domain

SHINN, Acting P. J.
I dissent. I agree with what is said in the main opinion with the exception of the conclusion, which is erroneous and unsupported by the reasoning of the opinion. Certainly the fine was good to the extent of $200, and the holding that it was not entirely void is unassailable. It would follow, as a matter of course, that since appellant has not paid $200 of the fine she would not be entitled to be released on probation by order of this court, which appears to be the only question considered by my associates. But she does not seek her release; she seeks only a reversal of the order revoking probation, which would return the matter for reconsideration. The opinion does not reach the real question, namely, whether under all the circumstances, and in *569the interest of justice, the matter of probation should be reconsidered by the trial judge. It is too clear to me to admit of argument that justice can be served in no other manner.
The amount of the fine was fixed at $1,000 after appellant’s attorney had explained to the court that it is customary for bookmaker employers to pay the fines, as well as the attorneys’ fees, of their employees. Appellant, her attorney, and also the judge understood that appellant could not pay the fine herself. The attorney asked for and was granted time to arrange for the payment of the fine by the employer. Everyone understood that a fine of $1,000 would be legal. The judge understood so when he revoked the order of probation. Appellant had two comrades who might have been expected to assist her, namely, her bookmaker employer and her husband. While the price set upon the lady’s liberty would seem to have been beyond the stretch of the chivalry or financial ability, or both, of these two gentlemen, it may be that they only considered the odds to be unattractive and that a fine of $200 would have been paid. Be that as it may, appellant now faces a six months’ term in jail for failure to pay an excessive fine, without having had an opportunity to retain her liberty by paying a legal fine. The trial judge believed her to be entitled to probation. Inability or unwillingness to pay a $200 fine cannot be assumed from the failure to pay a fine of $1,000. Appellant therefore stands on the threshold of the jail by reason of a judicial error. It is due to the able trial judge that he be given an opportunity to correct this error, and I am confident that no one would more readily or willingly correct a mistake that threatened to work an injustice. I can see nothing but injustice in sending appellant to jail because of her failure to pay an excessive fine, without giving her an opportunity to pay a legal fine and thus retain her liberty. With an obviously dim comprehension of what was going on in the skilled legal minds of the gentlemen who were conducting the proceedings, was she the one, and the only one, who should have known the law? Is she the one whose duty it was to see that the law was properly administered? Affirmance of the order would say so, and would leave her to suffer the consequences of the mistake, while the court, the district attorney, the probation officer, and appellant’s attorney, all officers of the court and all equally guilty of the mistake, are given no opportunity to rectify it.
*570The order should be reversed and the court should proceed in the matter of probation as upon an original application.
A petition for a rehearing was denied July 16, 1948, and the following opinion was filed.