California Court of Appeal Jun 29, 2016 No. D068993Unpublished
Filed 6/29/16 P. v. Russell CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
DIVISION ONE
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
THE PEOPLE, D068993
Plaintiff and Respondent,
v. (Super. Ct. No. SCS278906)
KARL JOSEPH RUSSELL, JR.,
Defendant and Appellant.
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Edward P.
Allard III and Garry G. Haehnle, Judges. Affirmed.
Alex Kreit, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and
Appellant.
No appearance for Plaintiff and Respondent.
INTRODUCTION
Karl Joseph Russell, Jr., was charged with one count of battery on a nonprisoner
by a prisoner. (Pen. Code, § 4501.5; count 1.)1 He pleaded guilty to attempting to resist
an officer in the performance of his lawful duty (§§ 664, 69; count 2 amended by
interlineation) with a stipulated sentence of 16 months in exchange for dismissal of count
1. The court sentenced Russell to 16 months to be served consecutive to the sentence he
was serving for another conviction (People v. Russell (Super. Ct. San Diego County,
defendants require effective counsel during plea negotiations"].)
3 People v. Marsden (1970) 2 Cal.3d 118. 6
We granted Russell permission to file a supplemental brief on his own behalf. He
submitted a letter stating he did not know how to defend himself and requested a new
trial and new appointed counsel. He stated, "I have come to relize that I am just going to
be another victim to abusive guards in prison, I have serious mental problems and while I
was charged for hitting a officer that I didn't hit I am guilty of yelling at him. [¶] … So
please review my case and grant a new trial or not it just don't matter anymore I will
continue to press the issue in a lawsuit against these officers or we can come to a
settlement take off the plea deal that I signed because of saftey of my life while at RJD in
San Diego or you can allow unfair punishment." (Spelling, punctuation and grammatical
errors in original.)
"Generally speaking, under section 1237.5, a defendant may not bring an appeal
from a judgment of conviction entered after a guilty or no contest plea, including an
appeal challenging the validity of the plea, unless he or she has first obtained from the
superior court a certificate of probable cause. [Fn. omitted.]" (People v. Zuniga (2014)
225 Cal.App.4th 1178, 1182, citing People v. Mendez (1999) 19 Cal.4th 1084, 1095.)
We cannot review the validity of the plea in this case because Russell did not obtain a
certificate of probable cause and no exception to the requirement applies. (Ibid.)
As requested by counsel, we reviewed the record for error and did not find any
reasonably arguable appellate issues. Russell has been competently represented by
counsel on this appeal.
DISPOSITION
The judgment is affirmed.
7
McCONNELL, P. J.
WE CONCUR:
AARON, J.
IRION, J.
8
AI Brief
AI-generated · verify before citing
Holding. The court affirmed the judgment of conviction after finding no reasonably arguable appellate issues following an independent review of the record. The court further held that the defendant's failure to obtain a certificate of probable cause precluded appellate review of the validity of his guilty plea.
Issues
Did the trial court abuse its discretion by failing to hold a hearing in response to Russell's request for new counsel and was this issue waived by Russell's guilty plea?
Does the failure to obtain a certificate of probable cause preclude appellate review of the validity of a guilty plea?
Disposition. Affirmed
Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion
“We cannot review the validity of the plea in this case because Russell did not obtain a certificate of probable cause and no exception to the requirement applies.”