Martinez v. Superior Court

Opinion

KINGSLEY, J. Petitioner was duly charged in two cases with various narcotic offenses. The cases were consolidated and, after various court appearances, he agreed to submit the consolidated cases on the transcripts of the preliminary hearings in those cases. He was found guilty on count I of the consolidated information (a violation of Health & Saf. Code, § 11500.5), and guilty of a violation of section 11500 of that code, a lesser and included offense to that charged in count III of the consolidated information. His case was transferred to department 95 of the superior court where, after proceedings under section 3051 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, he was committed to the California Rehabilitation [685]Center. Thereafter he was returned from the center as unsuitable for treatment and criminal proceedings were resumed.

Petitioner claims that the proceedings outlined above were all pursuant to “an agreement” between the People and petitioner: “. . . whereby petitioner would withdraw his motions in each case to suppress evidence under Penal Code section 1538.5 and submit the matter of guilt or innocence to the court upon the transcripts of the preliminary hearings in cases A-282122 and 283521; it was further agreed that the court would find petitioner guilty as charged in count I and guilty of violation of Health and Safety Code section 11500 as a lesser and necessarily included offense to that alleged in count III of the amended information. Said bargained for plea agreement further specified that for conviction of the above offenses, criminal proceedings would be adjourned and petitioner would be certified to department 95 of the respondent court for the filing of a petition to commit petitioner to the Director of Corrections for confinement in the California Rehabilitation Center for narcotic addicts (see Welf. & Inst. Code, § 3051), but that if petitioner was thereafter excluded or rejected by the Director of Corrections from the narcotic treatment program (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 3053) and criminal proceedings subsequently resumed, petitioner would not be sentenced to state prison on counts I and III but would be granted probation conditioned inter alia upon a period of confinement in the county jail, and an alleged prior conviction would be stricken.”

The parties have briefed and argued the case as though it were controlled by section 1192.5 of the Penal Code. In that they are in error. By its express terms, that section applies only “upon a plea of guilty or nolo contendere”; here there was no such plea, but a plea of not guilty followed by a submission. While, for the purpose of advising a defendant of the consequences of his action, such a submission is regarded as the equivalent of a plea of guilty, it is not so for all purposes. The case at bench, therefore, is governed not by the specific language of section 1192.5, but by general principles of due process.