Court Opinion

ID: 9552917
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:19:14.487642+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:29:22.088859
License: Public Domain

CARTER, J.
I dissent.
Because, as was pointed out in the dissenting opinions of Mr. Justice Edmonds and myself in People v. Chessman, 35 Cal.2d 455, 468, 469 [218 P.2d 769, 19 A.L.R.2d 1084], there is no adequate record upon which this court may review the judgments of conviction against the defendant, I would reverse said judgments and order denying defendant a new trial on that ground alone. A reading of the majority opinion, however, convinces me that many flagrant errors were committed during the trial which would ordinarily be held to be prejudicial and require the reversal of a judgment of conviction. In fact, the only way I can rationalize the majority opinion is that those concurring therein feel that a person charged with 17 felonies of the character of those charged *194against the defendant, and who represents himself, is not entitled to a trial in accordance with the rules applicable to. the ordinary criminal case. I cannot subscribe to this doctrine.
EDMONDS, J.
The judgments of conviction, including two which carry a sentence of death, are affirmed upon a record which, admittedly, is not a complete transcript of the proceedings before the trial court. As I pointed out in People v. Chessman, 35 Cal.2d 455, 470 [218 P.2d 769, 19 A.L.R.2d 1084], the transcript omits certain pertinent testimony and was made up in a manner which does not comply with the Rules on Appeal. It was certified by the trial judge as a substitute for a correct record and was considered by him “. . . as the basis of establishing a transcript on appeal. ’ ’
Manifestly, this court could not make “an examination of the entire cause, including the evidence” as required by the Constitution (Const., art. VI, § 4½) without “the entire record of the action” to which the appellant is entitled. (Rules on Appeal, rule 33, subd. c.) Notwithstanding these provisions, in the absence of a showing by the appellant that he has been prejudiced by omissions and inaccuracies in the record, the approximate and inexact transcript is held to be a sufficient basis for reviewing the judgments of conviction. Such procedure, in my opinion, has taken from Chessman a substantial right.
For these reasons, and without considering other points presented by the appellant, I would reverse the judgments of conviction and remand the cause for a new trial.
A petition for a stay of remittitur and appellant’s petition for a rehearing were denied January 15, 1952. Edmonds, J., and Carter, J., were of the opinion that the petition for a rehearing should be granted.