Court Opinion

ID: 9537559
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:19:54.508754+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:56:46.629562
License: Public Domain

RICHARDSON, J., Concurring and Dissenting.
I have no objection to my colleagues’ ultimate disposition of this case, namely, a remand to the trial court to determine the nature of the efforts made by the People to maintain contact with the informant, and to reconsider the evidence bearing on defendant’s claim that he was “vindictively” charged. I respectfully dissent from the majority’s reasoning that leads it to the conclusion that he was “vindictively” prosecuted.
1. Unavailability of Informant
Although the majority first examines the People’s duty to disclose the informant’s “identity,” it must be understood that defendant knew who the informant was, but did not know where he was. In the words of his counsel and referring to the informant’s identity, “we don’t make any claim that we don’t know who it was.” Both defendant and the People knew that the informant in question was Larry Douglas. The People were obligated to do no more than to “undertake reasonable efforts in good faith to locate” Douglas so that he could be subpoenaed as a witness. (Eleazer v. Superior Court (1970) 1 Cal.3d 847, 853 [83 Cal.Rptr. 587, 464 P.2d 42].) What is “reasonable” depends on the particular facts of the case. (Ibid.) Here, the trial court was told that the district attorney gave defense counsel the informant’s last known address and telephone number. Apparently, this information was insufficient to locate the informant and it is appropriate for the trial court to make further inquiry to determine whether the prosecution’s efforts were “reasonable” under the circumstances.
2. Vindictive Prosecution
The majority concludes that a “presumption of vindictiveness” arose from the People’s conduct in this case. I wholly disagree. In my view, the *376record before us discloses neither prosecutorial vindictiveness nor malice, nor ill will. Here, the district attorney amended the information three days after defendant’s rejection of a plea offer. The amended information, however, contained additional charges wholly unrelated to the underlying charges of possession of heroin for sale. (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351; Pen. Code, § 1203.07.) The new allegations sought enhancement of the narcotics offenses for six prior prison terms for six other convictions.
In a very considerable speculative leap, the majority concludes that after a mistrial defendant faced the additional penalties “apparently as a result of pursuing his right to be tried by a jury on retrial” (ante, p. 369) and that “the circumstances strongly suggest that the prosecutor unilaterally imposed a penalty in response to the defendant’s insistence on facing a jury retrial” (ante, p. 371). The only record support for these assertions is that defendant’s rejection of the plea offer was followed three days later by the amendment to the information. However, the deputy district attorney explained her conduct with regard to this timing. While defendant’s rap sheet did refer to the prior convictions, it also indicated that defendant had been in the custody of the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC). The deputy district attorney testified that she was not certain about the validity of the priors because of petitioner’s commitment to CRC. When, on February 2, 1982, petitioner’s complete state “prison package” was delivered to her, she confirmed the validity of the six prior convictions for section 667.5 enhancement purposes, and immediately moved to amend the information accordingly. Such an explanation is reasonable. The deputy district attorney was an officer of the court. There was no reason to disbelieve her. The trial judge accepted and believed her explanation. So did three appellate justices. So do I.
Moreover, as Justice Poché aptly noted in writing for a unanimous Court of Appeal, “Even assuming that a presumption of vindictiveness did arise, the court’s ruling that the presumption was overcome is reasonable.”
The People have called our attention to pertinent language from two recent cases. The majority unconvincingly attempts to distinguish and downplay United States v. Goodwin (1982) 457 U.S. 368 [73 L.Ed.2d 74,102 S.Ct. 2485], and People v. Farrow (1982) 133 Cal.App.3d 147 [184 Cal.Rptr. 21] (hg. den. Sept. 2, 1982). In Goodwin, the high court observed: “There is good reason to be cautious before adopting an inflexible presumption of prosecutorial vindictiveness in a pretrial setting. In the course of preparing a case for trial, the prosecutor may uncover additional information that suggests a basis for further prosecution or he simply may come to realize that information possessed by the State has a broader significance. At this stage of the proceedings, the prosecutor’s assessment of the proper extent *377of prosecution may not have crystallized. ...” (Goodwin, supra, 457 U.S. 368, 381 [73 L.Ed.2d 74, 85, 102 S.Ct. 2485, 2493].)
“A prosecutor should remain free before trial to exercise the broad discretion entrusted to him to determine the extent of the societal interest in prosecution. An initial decision should not freeze future conduct. As we made clear in Bordenkircher [v. Hayes (1978) 434 U.S. 357] the initial charges filed by a prosecutor may not reflect the extent to which an individual is legitimately subject to prosecution.” (Ibid., fns. omitted.)
Similarly in Farrow, the appellate court sustained the addition of an assault with a deadly weapon count (Pen. Code, §§ 245, 12022.5) to an information charging a previously dismissed (id., § 1382) possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (id., § 12021). Defendant claimed a vindictive prosecution. In declining to extend the reasoning of Blackledge v. Perry (1974) 417 U.S. 21 [40 L.Ed.2d 628, 94 S.Ct. 2098], to a pretrial context, the Farrow court pointed out that “Prosecutorial discretion in determining the charges to be filed is basic to the framework of our criminal justice system. [Citations.] Up to the time of verdict, the prosecution may amend the information to include additional offenses shown by the evidence at the preliminary hearing.” (133 Cal.App.3d at p. 152.) The court then concluded that application of the principle of Blackledge to amendments to an information before trial “would unduly hamper the legitimate exercise of this prosecutorial discretion.” (Ibid.)
Petitioner never challenged, nor does he now, the validity of his prior convictions in Los Angeles and San Francisco Counties for grand theft and attempted grand theft in 1954, 1958, 1961, 1962, 1965 and 1966. For purposes of enhancement of the present charge of possession of heroin for sale within the context of section 667.5, no reason appears in this record why petitioner should be given, in effect, six “free” felonies.
Nonetheless, I concur in a remand of the case to the trial court for the purpose of inquiring into the reasonableness of the prosecution’s efforts to maintain contact with Larry Douglas, as well as the presence of any “actual vindictiveness.” I dissent, however, from the majority’s conclusion that the record raises any “presumption of vindictive charging” in this case.