Court Opinion

ID: 9725937
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 12:21:38.268371+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:21.637718
License: Public Domain

JEFFERSON (Bernard), J.
I concur in the result reached by the majority but I am not satisfied with the reasoning by which the result is reached.
Neither the majority’s opinion nor the decision of In re Handsome (1977) 72 Cal.App.3d 657 [138 Cal.Rptr. 400], cited by the majority, satisfactorily explains how a trial judge may impose, as a condition of probation, a sentence that defendant serve one year in the county jail with no credit to be allowed for time spent in custody. Such a condition of probation appears to be in direct conflict with, and a violation of, the mandates of Penal Code section 19a, which places a one-year limit upon a county jail commitment given as a condition of probation, and of Penal Code section 2900.5, subdivision (c), which provides, in relevant part, that “such credits shall be applied to any such condition of probation.” (Italics added.)
It is not sufficient to reason that a defendant simply cannot seek to hold on to that part of his plea bargain which is a nonprison term but evade that part of his plea bargain which provides that no credit shall be allowed for his days in custody. This reasoning does not make legal what is otherwise an illegal sentence. The reasoning of the majority in the instant case and of the Handsome court should lead to the result that the trial court’s sentence should be vacated as an illegal sentence, irrespective of a defendant’s desires.
I reach the same result as the majority and the Handsome court by interpreting Penal Code section 2900.5 as permitting a defendant to knowingly and intelligently waive the provisions thereof that require all days of custody to be credited to his sentence, including any period of imprisonment as a condition of probation. In the case at bench, we have such a knowing and intelligent waiver by the defendant.
*721But in the absence of Penal Code section 2900.5 being interpreted to permit a waiver by defendant of his right to credit for days spent in custody prior to sentence, I am unable to justify, as valid, any sentence of imprisonment—whether imposed as a condition of probation or not— which eliminates the credit for days in custody. In the absence of an appropriate waiver by a defendant, any such sentence should be declared illegal and ordered vacated.