Still v. Justice Court

[817]

Opinion

GARGANO, J.

On October

18, 1965,

Martin Urban Still entered a plea of guilty in the Justice Court of the Turlock Judicial District to a charge of driving a vehicle while under the influence of intoxicating liquor in violation of Vehicle Code section 23102, subdivision (a). The docket entry states that Still was told that he was entitled to be represented by counsel but not that counsel would be appointed for him if he were indigent and did not have money to retain an attorney. The plea of guilty resulted in a $330 fine or in the alternative a sentence of one day in the county jail for each $5 of the unpaid fine. We assume that Still paid the fine because he had posted a $330 cash bond.

In December 1969, Still was charged with a second violation of Vehicle Code section 23102, subdivision (a), to which he also entered a plea of guilty. A few months later the California Department of Motor Vehicles issued an order suspending his driver’s license for one year, pursuant to Vehicle Code section 13352, subdivision (c).

On May 8,1970, Still petitioned the Superior Court of Stanislaus County for a writ of mandate to compel the respondent justice court to set aside the judgment entered on his 1965 guilty plea. The petition was predicated on the theory that petitioner was denied his right to be represented by counsel as to the 1965 Vehicle Code violation because he was not told that the court would appoint an attorney to represent him if he did not have the money to retain private counsel.

The essence of Still’s testimony at the hearing on his petition was that he pled guilty to the 1965 charge because he did not have money to employ an attorney, and because he did not know that under those circumstances he was entitled to court-appointed counsel. On cross-examination, however, Still admitted that on October 18, 1965, he was steadily employed at a job which he had held for two years, that he was married and that his wife was his only dependent, that his take-home' pay was $520 a month, that his total monthly expenses were $439, that he was purchasing a home and had a $3,000 equity in the house, and that he owned a pickup truck and was buying a Volkswagen. It was also disclosed that in addition to posting cash bail in the amount of $330, Still had $50 in a bank account.