Bravo v. Superior Court
| Decision Date | 22 June 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. F037557.,F037557. |
| Citation | 90 Cal.App.4th 88,108 Cal.Rptr.2d 514 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | Vidal BRAVO et al., Petitioners, v. SUPERIOR COURT of Kern County, Respondent; The People, Real Party in Interest. |
Randall B. Dickow, Bakersfield, for Petitioner Vidal Bravo, and David A. Torres, Bakersfield, for Petitioner Jose Ramirez.
No appearance for Respondent.
Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, David P. Druliner, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Stan Cross and Susan J. Orton, Deputy Attorneys General, for Real Party in Interest.
On March 7, 2000, the voters of California approved Proposition 21, known as the "Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Initiative" (Proposition 21). Section 26 of Proposition 21 is the subject of this writ proceeding. Section 26, codified as section 707 of the Welfare and Institutions Code,1 replaced the former section 707, subdivision (d) in its entirety. The new section 707, subdivision (d) provides the prosecuting attorney with discretion to file certain criminal charges against youths in adult criminal court (adult court) or in the juvenile court. Accordingly, Proposition 21 provides the prosecuting attorney with the discretion to file charges in adult court and thereby limits the trial court's discretion in sentencing to the sentencing scheme available to adults. Petitioner raises various challenges to the constitutionality of Proposition 21 as set forth below.
This writ proceeding arises out of a criminal prosecution in Kern County. The district attorney filed a four-count information in respondent court on December 6, 2000, after a four-day preliminary examination. The information alleged petitioner Vidal Bravo and two co-defendants had murdered Robert Milam in violation of Penal Code section 187, subdivision (a). The first count of the information further alleged that the murder was intentional and perpetrated by means of discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle, was committed while petitioner was an active participant in a criminal street gang, and that the murder was committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal street gang and with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in criminal conduct by gang members. A firearms enhancement was also alleged. Finally, pursuant to section 707, subdivisions (d)(1) and (d)(3)(A), the information alleged that petitioner was 16 years of age or older when the murder was committed and that he had previously been found to be a ward of the juvenile court by reason of committing a felony when he was at least 14 years old.
Counts 2 and 3 charged petitioner with the attempted murders of Manuel Arviso and Filiberto Ruiz, and also alleged firearm, drive-by shooting, criminal street gang allegations, and eligibility for direct filing in adult court. Count 4 alleged petitioner had willfully and unlawfully carried a handgun for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal street gang and that he had previously been adjudged a ward of the juvenile court.
Petitioner then filed a timely motion to set aside the information pursuant to Penal Code section 995. The motion was based on the grounds that Proposition 21:(1) violates the single-subject rule; (2) violates the separation of powers by improperly giving judicial power to the executive branch; (3) that the text of the statute was improperly altered; and (4) violates equal protection laws. The motion was denied, and the trial court noted that the issues were questions of first impression, and encouraged petitioner to seek relief from this court. Petitioner Bravo subsequently filed the writ which is now before us. Petitioner Ramirez joined in the petition filed by Bravo. We ordered a stay of the proceedings below on March 23, 2001. As he did below, petitioner argues that section 707, subdivision (d) is invalid because Proposition 21 violates the single-subject rule, the separation of powers doctrine, equal protection and that the text of the statute was improperly altered.
We are not the first court of appeal to consider this issue. In Manduley v. Superior Court (2001) 86 Cal.App.4th 1198, 104 Cal.Rptr.2d 140 (Manduley), review granted April 25, 2001, the Fourth District concluded that section 707, subdivision (d) violated the separation of powers doctrine. For the reasons set forth below, we disagree and therefore consider petitioners other challenges to the statute. We reject the other challenges as well and deny the petitions.
At the outset we are compelled to point out that we are not called upon to review the wisdom of the policy determination made by the people of the State of California when enacting Proposition 21 (). Rather, the question before us is whether allowing the prosecutor the discretion to file (or not) certain types of crimes committed by juveniles in adult court violates the separation of powers doctrine. (See Estate of Horman (1971) 5 Cal.3d 62, 77, 95 Cal. Rptr. 433, 485 P.2d 785 [ ].) With this view of our role in mind, we conclude section 707, subdivision (d) does not violate the separation of powers doctrine.
Article III, section 3 of the California Constitution provides: The separation of powers doctrine is also implicit in the United States Constitution. (Springer v. Philippine Islands (1928) 277 U.S. 189, 48 S.Ct. 480, 72 L.Ed. 845.) The charging function of a criminal case is within the sole province of the executive branch, which includes the Attorney General and the various district attorneys (Cal. Const, art. V, § 13). (People v. Sidener (1962) 58 Cal.2d 645, 650, 25 Cal.Rptr. 697, 375 P.2d 641, overruled on other grounds in People v. Tenorio (1970) 3 Cal.3d 89, 91, 89 Cal. Rptr. 249, 473 P.2d 993 (Tenorio).) Once the executive power has been exercised by the filing of a criminal charge, "the process which leads to acquittal or to sentencing is fundamentally judicial in nature." (Tenorio, supra, 3 Cal.3d at p. 94, 89 Cal.Rptr. 249, 473 P.2d 993.) Thus the legislative branch bears the sole responsibility and power to define criminal charges and to prescribe punishment,2 the executive branch decides what crime to charge, and the judicial branch imposes sentence within the legislatively determined limits for the chosen crime. (People v. Navarro (1972) 7 Cal.3d 248, 258, 102 Cal.Rptr. 137, 497 P.2d 481 (Navarro).) Separation of powers mandates that a statute may not constitutionally require the consent of one branch for the proper exercise of another branch's power, unless specifically provided for in the California Constitution. (See People v. Tenorio, supra, 3 Cal.3d at p. 94, 89 Cal.Rptr. 249, 473 P.2d 993; People v. Superior Court (Felmann) (1976) 59 Cal. App.3d 270, 275, 130 Cal.Rptr. 548.)
These basic principles of separation of powers are not in dispute. What is not clear, however, is whether section 707, subdivision (d)'s provision allowing the prosecutor the discretion to file charges directly in adult court is a decision regarding "what crime to charge" or a decision about sentencing. In other words, the question before us is how to classify the "power" created by section 707, subdivision (d).
Section 707, subdivision (d)
Section 707, subdivision (d) gives the prosecutor the discretion to either directly file charges against certain juvenile offenders in adult court or to file charges in juvenile court and the court is then empowered to determine in a fitness hearing whether the juvenile should be subject to juvenile or adult court laws.3 Prior to Proposition 21, the law provided that, in most cases, the prosecutor was required to bring proceedings against a juvenile in juvenile court. The juvenile court then would, upon motion of the prosecutor, conduct a fitness hearing to determine whether the juvenile should remain in the juvenile system or be transferred to adult court. (Former § 707, subd. (a).) In some circumstances the prosecutor was required to bring certain charges in adult court (former § 707.01), but under no circumstances was the prosecutor given the discretion to unilaterally decide whether or not to proceed against a juvenile in adult court. Proposition 21 allocates such discretion to the prosecutor under certain circumstances. (§ 707, subds. (a), (d). If, under section 707, subdivision (d) the prosecutor chooses to directly file charges in adult court and the juvenile is convicted of one of the qualifying offenses, the court must sentence the juvenile as an adult under the adult criminal sentencing laws. (Pen.Code, § 1170.17, subd. (a).)
Petitioner claims because sentencing is a traditionally judicial function, removing the option from the court of sentencing a juvenile offender under the juvenile laws is a violation of the separation of powers doctrine. The People maintain that because the prosecutor makes the discretionary filing decision under section 707, subdivision (d) before the charges are ever even before the court, it is an appropriate prosecutorial function properly allocated to the executive branch. The choice of forum for prosecuting a juvenile offender is not easily categorized as either a prosecutorial or a judicial function. The unclear nature of the power granted by section 707, subdivision (d) allows for at least two possible methods of analyzing the separation of powers issue. First, given the unchallenged fact that juvenile...
To continue reading
Request your trial