People v. Financial Casualty & Surety, Inc.

Filed 1/5/18

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, G053419

v. (Super. Ct. No. 08CM09805)

FINANCIAL CASUALTY & SURETY, OPINION INC.,

Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Thomas A. Delaney, Judge. Affirmed. Law Office of John Rorabaugh, John M. Rorabaugh and Robert Tomlin White, for Defendant and Appellant. Leon J. Page, County Counsel and Carolyn M. Khouzam, Deputy County Counsel for Plaintiff and Respondent. * * *

A surety posted a $50,000 bail bond for a misdemeanor defendant. Throughout the case, defendant’s attorney appeared on his behalf: “In all cases in which the accused is charged with a misdemeanor only, he or she may appear by counsel only . . . .” (Pen. Code, § 977, subd. (a)(1).)1 The trial court granted defendant probation, continued several probation violation hearings, and eventually ordered defendant to personally appear. When defendant failed to appear, the court ordered the bond forfeited. On appeal, the surety argues that section 977 does not allow attorneys to appear on behalf of misdemeanor defendants at probation violation hearings; therefore, the surety contends that the trial court should have declared a forfeiture at an earlier point in time. We disagree and affirm the judgment. We hold that under section 977, an attorney may appear on behalf of a misdemeanor defendant at a probation violation hearing.

I FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In September 2008, the People filed a misdemeanor complaint charging defendant Raul Esteban Ramirez Santillan with driving under the influence and other related traffic offenses. (Veh. Code, §§ 23152, subds. (a) & (b), 12500, subd. (a).) In February 2009, Santillan pleaded guilty to all charges. The trial court suspended imposition of sentence and granted him three years informal probation. In June 2009, the court received notice that Santillan had violated various terms of his probation. The court issued a bench warrant and set bail at $50,000. In February 2012, the police arrested Santillan on the outstanding warrant. Financial Casualty & Surety, Inc. (the surety), posted a $50,000 bail bond. Santillan