Court Opinion

ID: 9788448
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 00:54:17.30667+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:03.962663
License: Public Domain

*910KENNARD, J., Dissenting.
Subdivision (d) of Penal Code section 186.221 provides that any person “convicted of a public offense punishable as a felony or a misdemeanor,” which was committed to benefit a criminal street gang, may be sentenced to prison, and must serve at least six months in county jail. Does this provision apply to all felonies and all misdemeanors, or only to “wobblers,” a class of offenses that may be prosecuted as either felonies or misdemeanors? According to the majority, it applies to all felonies and misdemeanors. I disagree.
I
Section 186.22, enacted in 1989 and operative in 1993, is part of the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act of 1988. Some of its complex provisions have in recent years been addressed by this court. (See People v. Sengpadychith (2001) 26 Cal.4th 316 [109 Cal.Rptr.2d 851, 27 P.3d 739]; People v. Robles (2000) 23 Cal.4th 1106 [99 Cal.Rptr.2d 120, 5 P.3d 176]; People v. Castenada (2000) 23 Cal.4th 743 [97 Cal.Rptr.2d 906, 3 P.3d 278]; People v. Zermeno (1999) 21 Cal.4th 927 [89 Cal.Rptr.2d 863, 986 P.2d 196]; People v. Loeun (1997) 17 Cal.4th 1 [69 Cal.Rptr.2d 776, 947 P.2d 1313]; People v. Gardeley (1996) 14 Cal.4th 605 [59 Cal.Rptr.2d 356, 927 P.2d 713].) In general, the act imposes increased penalties when crimes are committed to benefit a criminal street gang.
In 2000, California voters passed Proposition 21, an initiative that made many changes to laws pertaining to minors accused of crimes. Among other things, Proposition 21 amended section 186.22 by adding subdivision (d) (section 186.22(d)), which is at issue here.
Section 186.22(d) provides: “Any person who is convicted of a public offense punishable as a felony or a misdemeanor, which is committed for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with, any criminal street gang with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members, shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for one, two, or three years, provided that any person sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail shall be imprisoned for a period not to exceed one year, but not less than 180 days, and shall not be eligible for release upon completion of sentence, parole, or any other basis, until he or she has served 180 days. If the court grants probation or suspends the execution, of sentence imposed upon the defendant, it shall require as a condition thereof that the defendant serve 180 days in a county jail.” (Italics added.)
At issue is the meaning of the phrase “convicted of a public offense punishable as a felony or a misdemeanor.” (§ 186.22(d).) The majority holds *911that it refers to all misdemeanors and felonies, rejecting petitioner’s contention that it refers only to wobblers. As I shall explain, the majority’s reasoning is unpersuasive.
II
“In interpreting a voter initiative . . . , we apply the same principles that govern statutory construction. [Citation.] Thus, ‘we turn first to the language of the statute, giving the words their ordinary meaning.’ [Citation.] The statutory language must also be construed in the context of the statute as a whole and the overall statutory scheme. [Citation.] When the language is ambiguous, ‘we refer to other indicia of the voters’ intent, particularly the analyses and arguments contained in the official ballot pamphlet.’ ” (People v. Rizo (2000) 22 Cal.4th 681, 685 [94 Cal.Rptr.2d 375, 996 P.2d 27].)
Here, section 186.22(d)’s phrase “convicted of a public offense punishable as a felony or a misdemeanor” is ambiguous: It can be read either as applying only to wobblers or as referring to all misdemeanors and all felonies. But when section 186.22(d) is read together with subdivision (b)(1) of section 186.22 (section 186.22(b)(1)), it becomes apparent that section 186.22(d) can only apply to wobblers.
Under the majority’s interpretation of section 186.22(d), a defendant who is convicted of a felony and is found to have committed the crime to benefit a criminal street gang will be sentenced to a prison term of one year, two years, or three years. But (except for a couple of rarely used exceptions) the prison term for even the most minor felonies is 16 months, two years, or three years, a sentence greater than (for the lower term) or equal to (for the middle and upper terms), the sentence specified in section 186.22(d). Most serious felonies, of course, carry even greater sentences. Moreover, Proposition 21 also amended section 186.22(b)(1) to provide, in words identical to those of section 186.22(d), that any person who commits a felony to benefit a criminal street gang must be punished by an added penalty of two, three, or four years in prison, a penalty greater than the sentence described in section 186.22(d).2 Thus, if the majority is right that in the phrase “convicted of a public offense punishable as a felony or a misdemeanor,” the words “a felony” refer to all felonies, then those two words are meaningless: No *912prosecutor will allege a violation of section 186.22(d) in any felony case, because it provides for felony sentences lower than those prescribed elsewhere in the Penal Code, including those required in another part of the same law.
The words “a felony” are not the only ones that are made meaningless by construing section 186.22(d), as the majority does, as applying to all felonies and misdemeanors. That provision pertains to persons “convicted of a public offense punishable as a felony or a misdemeanor.” (Italics added.) Under the construction given by the majority—that the phrase refers to all felonies and misdemeanors—the drafters of Proposition 21 could have simply omitted the italicized words without affecting the meaning given by the majority.
The majority’s interpretation violates a basic tenet of statutory construction that whenever possible, significance must be given to every word in ascertaining legislative intent, avoiding any construction that renders some words surplusage. (Agnew v. State Bd. of Equalization (1999) 21 Cal.4th 310, 330 [87 Cal.Rptr.2d 423, 981 P.2d 52]; see also Cooley v. Superior Court (2002) 29 Cal.4th 228, 249 [127 Cal.Rptr.2d 177, 57 P.3d 654]; Navellier v. Slettin (2002) 29 Cal.4th 82, 95 [124 Cal.Rptr.2d 530, 52 P.3d 703].) By contrast, to construe section 186.22(d) as applying only to wobblers, as I would, gives meaning to all the statutory language. That provision’s phrase “a public offense punishable as a felony or a misdemeanor” is a simplified version of language used elsewhere in the Penal Code to describe a wobbler. (See § 17, subd. (b) [“a crime . . . punishable, in the discretion of the court, by imprisonment in the state prison or by fine or imprisonment in the county jail . . . .”].)
According to the majority, “[b]y its plain language . . . section 186.22(d) applies to any crime or public offense that is a felony or a misdemeanor.” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 901.) The statutory language, read in a commonsense manner, refers to wobblers because, as explained above, that is the only construction that gives meaning to all the statutory language. The majority offers no explanation for its claim that, looking only at the words themselves, section 186.22(d) refers to all felonies and misdemeanors.
The majority maintains that if section 186.22(d) was intended to apply only to wobblers, it would have contained specific language expressly saying so, such as a reference to section 17 (which describes a wobbler), or words that mirrored section 17’s description of a wobbler. (Maj. opn., ante, at pp. 901-902.) One can just as easily argue that if section 186.22(d) was intended to apply to all felonies and misdemeanors, it would have contained specific language saying so. When, as here, a statute is ambiguous, one can always *913assert that the drafters could have avoided the ambiguity by adding unambiguous language.
The majority claims its holding “is buttressed when one considers that the term ‘wobbler’ does not have a meaning defined by statute or commonly understood by the electorate.” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 902.) That assertion is puzzling. The word “wobbler” does not appear in section 186.22(d) and its meaning is thus not in issue. True, “wobbler” is not statutorily defined and is not used in common parlance, but so what? Section 186.22(b) contains no reference to wobblers. But it does contain the phrase “a public offense punishable as a felony or a misdemeanor,” which is, as noted earlier, language accurately describing a wobbler.
The majority cites the arguments and analyses in the ballot pamphlet presented to the voters to support its conclusion that section 186.22(d) applies to all felonies and misdemeanors, not just wobblers. (Maj. opn., ante, at pp. 903-908.) First, the majority notes that the Legislative Analysis of Proposition 21 said that the proposition “ ‘[increases penalties for gang-related crimes and requires gang members to register with local law enforcement agencies.’ ” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 906.) There is no dispute that one of the purposes of Proposition 21 was to impose stiffer penalties on gang-related crimes. But that point is irrelevant to the issue whether section 186.22(d) applies to all felonies and misdemeanors or only to wobblers.
Next, the majority points out that the opponents of Proposition 21 said that it “ ‘turns low-level vandalism into a felony’ ” and “ ‘requires gang offenders with misdemeanors (like stealing candy) to serve six months in jail.’ ” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 906, italics omitted.) According to the majority, the vandalism argument is “fairly read” (ibid.) as warning that Proposition 21 would turn relatively minor crimes, such as gang-related vandalism causing damage of less than $400, into felonies, and the candy example warned the voters that such a minor crime would trigger the harsh penalty of a six-month sentence for gang-related petty theft. Thus, the majority reasons, the voters were on notice that section 186.22(d) would apply to all misdemeanors and felonies, and that they must therefore have intended this result in passing Proposition 21.
Once again, the majority seizes on arguments that have nothing to do with the issue before us. The opponents’ statement that Proposition 21 “turns low-level vandalism into a felony” refers not to section 186.22(d), but to Proposition 21’s proposed change in the vandalism law. Before Proposition 21, vandalism (§ 594) was a misdemeanor unless the value of the damage exceeded five thousand dollars. (Stats. 1999, ch. 83, § 144.) Proposition 21 *914amended section 594 to permit felony prosecution for vandalism when the damage exceeds four hundred dollars. It is this change in the vandalism law that the opponents were addressing when they told the voters that Proposition 21 “turns low-level vandalism into a felony.” (Ballot Pamp., Primary Elec. (Mar. 7, 2000) rebuttal to argument in favor of Prop. 21, p. 48.)
With respect to the opponents’ candy argument, the majority is wrong when it reads the opponents’ argument as implicitly saying that section 186.22(d) applies to all misdemeanors. Even if applicable only to wobblers, the provision would nonetheless apply to a theft of candy if the offender had a prior conviction for shoplifting (§ 666), if the offender was convicted of second degree burglary (§§ 459, 461), or in the unlikely event that the value of the candy exceeded $400 (§§ 487, subd. (a), 489, subd. (b)).
The majority conveniently overlooks the argument by the proponents of Proposition 21 that the proposition “doesn’t lock up kids for minor offenses.” (Ballot Pamp., Primary Elec. (Mar. 7, 2000) rebuttal to argument against Prop. 21, p. 49.) Contrary to that claim, the majority construes section 186.22(d) as mandating a minimum sentence of six months in jail and a maximum of three years in prison for all gang-related misdemeanors, no matter how insignificant. For example, a defendant convicted of driving with an expired license (Veh. Code, § 12500) will, under the majority’s interpretation, have to serve at least six months in jail and could receive up to three years in prison if passengers in the car are members of a criminal street gang and the jury finds that the defendant drove the car for their benefit. The voters, when they enacted Proposition 21, were assured by the proponents that the initiative would not impose such draconian penalties.
Construed as applying only to wobblers, section 186.22(d) has a plausible purpose: To limit the power of trial courts to impose light sentences on defendants who commit gang-related wobblers. When a defendant is convicted of a wobbler charged as a felony with a gang enhancement under subdivision (b) of section 186.22, a trial court wishing to show leniency may reduce the wobbler to a misdemeanor and impose a short jail sentence. (See People v. Superior Court (Alvarez) (1997) 14 Cal.4th 968 [60 Cal.Rptr.2d 93, 928 P.2d 1171] [when defendant convicted of a wobbler charged as a felony, trial court may avoid the three strikes penalty provision by reducing the crime to a misdemeanor].) Section 186.22(d) limits the trial court’s power to exercise leniency in the fashion described above: If the court elects to treat the crime as a misdemeanor, section 186.22(d) requires it to sentence the defendant to a minimum of six months in county jail. In my view, it was to achieve this purpose that the voters amended section 186.22 to add subdivision (d).
*915Conclusion
The majority asserts that the only purpose of section 186.22(d) is to “enable[] prosecutors to more severely punish gang-related misdemeanors.” (Maj. opn., ante, at p. 909, italics added.) This cannot be true. If the voters’ sole purpose was to punish gang-related misdemeanants more severely, why did they enact a law that, by its terms, applies to those convicted of crimes punishable “as a felony or a misdemeanor?” (Italics added.) The majority does not, and cannot, answer this question. The only construction of section 186.22(d) that gives meaning to all the statutory language is to read it as applying only to wobblers, as I propose to do. I would therefore reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which held that petitioner could be prosecuted under section 186.22(d) based on his commission of a misdemeanor.
Petitioner’s petition for a rehearing was denied August 20, 2003, and the opinion was modified to read as printed above. Baxter, J., did not participate therein. Kennard, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.

 All statutory citations are to the Penal Code.

 As amended by Proposition 21, section 186.22(b)(1) provides in pertinent part: “[A]ny person who is convicted of a felony committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct by gang members, shall, upon conviction of that felony, in addition and consecutive to the punishment prescribed for the felony or attempted felony for which he or she has been convicted, be punished by . . . [^|] (A)... an additional term of two, three, or four years at the court’s discretion . . . .”