Court Opinion

ID: 9725586
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 11:54:55.862161+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:16.823886
License: Public Domain

HOPPER, J.
I concur and believe that a few additional comments are in order. The record shows on its face in this case an express waiver of constitutional rights by the appellant. While that record is not conclusive and is subject to challenge, in the instant case appellant does not set forth adequate factual allegations contradicting the record. As the principal opinion points out, “a docket entry is still an acceptable, though not the most desirable, method of recording such advisements and waivers.” However, with all of the challenges being made throughout the state on priors, I believe that in the absence of a verbatim record of the proceedings (by court reporter or by mechanical means) the court should preserve an accurate record of the proceedings by requiring the defendant to sign an appropriate form and initial as to each specified right being waived, along the lines set out in the appendix to Mills v. Municipal Court (1973) 10 Cal.3d 288, 307, 312-313 [110 Cal.Rptr. 329, 515 P.2d 273] (see discussion in Stewart v. Justice Court (1977) 74 Cal.App.3d 607, 611-612 [141 Cal.Rptr. 589]; see also ABA Standards for Crim. Justice, Pleas of Guilty, commentary to std. 1.7 at pp. 34-36 advocating a verbatim record and that all other methods, including judge-signed checklists, be considered temporary substitutes). There was a written Gordon waiver,1 initialed by the appellant, in this case. Only a little additional effort would have been required to have done the same as to each constitutional right. Such a waiver form would reduce the number of attacks on criminal judgments in both the trial and appellate courts.
*533In addition, I believe that whenever a defendant is unrepresented there should be a judicially declared rule of criminal procedure applicable along the lines set out in American Bar Association Standards for Criminal Justice, Pleas of Guilty, standard 1.6, which reads as follows: “Notwithstanding the acceptance of a plea of guilty, the court should not enter a judgment upon such plea without making such inquiry as may satisfy it that there is a factual basis for the plea.” (Restated in std. 4.2(b) of ABA Standards for Crim. Justice, Stds. Relating to the Function of the Trial Judge.)
The factual basis should be developed on the record. The particularity and extent of inquiry into the factual basis can be determined by the circumstances of each case and left to the sound discretion of the judge. (See People v. Watts (1977) 67 Cal.App.3d 173, 178-179 [136 Cal.Rptr. 496].)
Such a rule should be applied to all serious misdemeanors and felonies.2 Vehicle Code section 23102, subdivision (a), has serious societal as well as individual consequences and is definitely such a serious offense. In advocating the adoption of such a rule, we should also recognize the increasing number of felony cases previously handled by the superior courts which are now processed as misdemeanors by the municipal and justice courts pursuant to Penal Code section 17, subdivision (b) (4) and (5).
Adoption of such a rule would discourage the filing of baseless motions, would permit quick disposition of baseless collateral attacks and would reduce the waste of judicial resources and the proliferation of post-conviction litigation, all of which affects the finality of criminal litigation. (See generally Blackledge v. Allison (1977) 431 U.S. 63 [52 L.Ed.2d 136, 97 S.Ct. 1621], particularly fns. 18, 19 and 20, at pp. 79-80 [52 L.Ed.2d at pp. 150-151].) Such procedure would virtually eliminate the need to resort to a later fact finding proceeding which requires exploring the hidden recesses of an often dimly lit passage toward recollection. As the English poet Thomas Gray pointed out: “Half a word fixed upon or near the spot, is worth a cartload of recollection.”
Appellant’s petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied June 22, 1978.

Gordon v. Justice Court (1974) 12 Cal.3d 323 [115 Cal.Rptr. 632, 525 P.2d 72, 71 A.L.R.3d 551] (cert, den., 420 U.S. 938 [43 L.Ed.2d 415, 95 S.Ct. 1148]).

Penal Code section 1192.5 is commonly thought to apply a factual basis rule to felonies. However, a careful reading would seem to limit it to plea bargain situations (see People v. Watts, supra, 67 Cal.App.3d 173, 178).