In re Bode

Opinion

STEVENS, J. In this matter we hold there is no 30-day deadline for providing a life prisoner with a transcript of his parole hearing.

Penal Code section 3042, subdivision (b)1 (hereafter, section 3042(b)) requires that members of the public, not prisoners, must be provided a transcript of a parole hearing, at least 30 days before the release of any prisoner, and within 30 days after the parole hearing itself. However, this statutory requirement was designed to protect the public prior to the release of a prisoner, and does not apply to unsuccessful prisoner petitioners such as the respondent on this appeal, Clifton A. Bode, whose application for parole has been denied.

[1004]By contrast, section 3041.5, which does govern the rights of life prisoners such as Bode, requires only that a transcript be provided to the prisoner, and does not impose a 30-day deadline. There is no statute requiring that a prisoner receive a transcript within 30 days. We therefore reverse the ruling of the trial court, which had held to the contrary.

I. Facts and Procedural History

The relevant facts are not in dispute.

Respondent on appeal Clifton A. Bode was convicted of first degree murder and is serving a sentence of life with possibility of parole at San Quentin State Prison. On March 24, 1998, Bode had his most recent parole consideration hearing, which resulted in a denial of parole.

On June 1, 1998, which was 68 days after the date of his March 1998 parole hearing, Bode received the transcript of that hearing. On the same day, Bode filed a petition for habeas corpus in the superior court, alleging that the failure to provide him with a transcript of the parole hearing within 30 days of the date of the hearing violated his statutory rights under section 3042(b).

The Attorney General filed a return to the petition, contending that Bode’s petition should be dismissed as moot, because a transcript of the parole hearing had been provided to him. The Attorney General also contended in the trial court that Bode did not have the right to a transcript within 30 days, because he was a prisoner, not a member of the public, and section 3042(b) only applies to members of the public, not prisoners.