People v. Black

WHITE, J. — This is an appeal by the State of California from a nunc pro tune order vacating a prior order of forfeiture of a bail bond following the defendant’s failure to appear for sentencing after his plea of guilty to a felony in the Superior Court in and for the County of Los Angeles.

The defendant, being charged with a felony, posted a bail bond in the amount of $1,500 written by the respondent National Automobile and Casualty Insurance Company. The bond assured that the defendant “will appear in the above-named court on the dates set forth to answer the complaint filed against him-her and all duly authorized amendments thereof, in whatever court it may be prosecuted, and will at all times hold him/her self amenable to the orders and process of the court, and, if convicted, will appear for pronouncement of judgment; or, if he/she fails to perform either of these conditions, that the National Automobile and Casualty Insurance Co., a California corporation, will pay to the people of the State of California, the sum of Fifteen Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00).

“If the forfeiture of this bond be ordered by the Court, judgment may be summarily made and entered' forthwith against the said National Automobile and Casualty Insurance Co., a California corporation, for the amount of its undertaking herein, as provided by Sections 1305 and 1306 of the California Penal Code.”

Section 1305 of the Penal Code provides that “If, without sufficient excuse, the defendant neglects to appear for arraignment or for trial or judgment, or upon any other occasion when his presence in court is lawfully required . . . the court must direct the fact to be entered upon its minutes and the undertaking of bail . . . must thereupon be declared forfeited.” It further provides that “if at any time within 90 days after such entry in the minutes, the defendant and his bail appear, and satisfactorily excuse the defendant’s neglect or show to the satisfaction of the court that the absence of the defendant was not with the connivance of the bail, the court may direct the forfeiture of the undertaking or the deposit to be discharged upon such terms as may be just. ’ ’

Section 1306 provides for summary judgment upon the forfeited bond if the forfeiture is not set aside within the 90-day period provided in section 1305.

Following the defendant’s failure to appear for pronouncement of judgment an order was made in open court on October 15, 1959, forfeiting bail and directing the issuance of a [277]