People v. Taylor

FILES, J.

Defendant, who is now in the state prison, has taken this appeal from an order of the superior court denying his "motion to vacate a void judgment. ’ ’

The record shows that defendant was orginally charged by an information containing two counts. The first charged

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grand theft of an automobile in violation of Penal Code, section 487, subdivision 3, and the second count charged that he did unlawfully take an automobile in violation of section 10851 of the Vehicle Code. The public defender was appointed to represent him. Upon arraignment defendant pleaded not guilty to both counts. When the case was called for trial on October 31, 1961, defendant withdrew his plea of not guilty to count II and pleaded guilty thereto. The court ordered a probation officer’s report and continued the case to November 22, 1961. On that day the court denied probation and sentenced defendant to the state prison for the term prescribed by law for the felony to which he had pleaded guilty. Count I was dismissed.

The minutes of November 22 indicate that later in the day defendant’s motion (in propria persona) to restore the ease to the calendar was granted. Defendant then made a motion to withdraw his plea of guilty, which motion was denied. No appeal was taken at that time.

Thereafter defendant filed his “Motion to Vacate a Void Judgment, ’' which was accompanied by a verified statement of facts and six additional documents, each called “Motion for Writ of Subpoena,’’ whereby he requested the court to issue subpoenas for the attendance of defendant, the deputy district attorney who had prosecuted him, the superior court judge who had sentenced him, a deputy probation officer, the deputy public defender who had appeared for him, and the public defender together with his records of all cases handled by the said deputy. The date when these motions were filed does not appear in the record, but each was dated June 21, 1962, which is also the date of the verification.

On July 11, 1962, the superior court made a minute order denying the motion to vacate the judgment, from which order this appeal has been taken.

Upon defendant’s request, this court appointed counsel to represent him here. Appointed counsel filed a brief stating in substance that he knows of no grounds upon which the order could be reversed. Defendant promptly wrote to the court repudiating the appointed counsel. Defendant himself has furnished the court with a brief and a supplement to his brief stating his views of the law.