In re Steele

• Citation: 32 Cal.4th 682,85 P.3d 444,10 Cal.Rptr.3d 536
• Decision Date: 08 March 2004
• Docket Number: No. S114551.,S114551.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court (California)
• Parties: In re Raymond Edward STEELE on Habeas Corpus.

10 Cal.Rptr.3d 536

85 P.3d 444

32 Cal.4th 682

In re Raymond Edward STEELE on Habeas Corpus.

No. S114551.

Supreme Court of California.

March 8, 2004.

Gregory Marshall, under appointment by the Supreme Court, Palo Cedro, for Petitioner Raymond Edward Steele.

Michael Laurence, Jeannie R. Sternberg and Cristina Borde, San Francisco, for Habeas Corpus Resource Center as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Petitioner Raymond Edward Steele.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Jo Graves, Assistant Attorney General, Ward A. Campbell and Eric L. Christoffersen, Deputy Attorneys General, for Respondent the People.

CHIN, J.

Petitioner Raymond Edward Steele is under a judgment of death. He has filed in this court a motion for postconviction discovery pursuant to recently enacted Penal Code section 1054.9 (section 1054.9). We issued an order to show cause to resolve important procedural and substantive issues regarding that section.

Procedurally, we conclude that those who seek discovery under section 1054.9 because they are preparing to file or have filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging a judgment of death or life without the possibility of parole should generally first make the discovery motion in the trial court that rendered the judgment. After the trial court has ruled, either party may challenge that ruling by a petition for writ of mandate in the Court of Appeal.

Substantively, we conclude that section 1054.9's discovery includes, and is limited to, specific materials the prosecution or law enforcement authorities involved in the case currently possess that the defendant can show fall into any of these categories: (1) materials the prosecutor provided at time of trial but have since become lost to the defendant, (2) materials the prosecution should have provided at time of trial, or (3) materials the defendant would have been entitled to at time of trial had the defendant specifically requested them.

In this case, the prosecution had no obligation at time of trial to provide the discovery materials petitioner seeks — evidence regarding his own behavior in prison that was relevant neither to the charged crime nor to any of the prosecution evidence in aggravation at the penalty phase — absent a specific defense request. However, if the defense had specifically requested the materials at time of trial (the record is unclear), the prosecution would have been obligated to provide them if it possessed them. Accordingly, we conclude that petitioner is entitled to discovery of materials within the scope of the current request that petitioner does not now possess but that the prosecution and law enforcement authorities involved in the case currently possess, if any exist.

I. PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Petitioner was convicted of first degree murder with the special circumstance of a prior murder conviction and sentenced to death in the Shasta County Superior Court. We affirmed the judgment. (People v. Steele (2002) 27 Cal.4th 1230, 120 Cal.Rptr.2d 432, 47 P.3d 225.) Details of the underlying crime are not here pertinent. It suffices to say that petitioner murdered a young woman in 1988 and had previously been convicted of the 1971 murder of another young woman. In aggravation, the prosecution presented evidence of other crimes petitioner committed before he was arrested for the first murder. Petitioner presented a mental defense at the guilt phase and additional mitigating evidence at the penalty phase, including evidence that he had provided to prison authorities valuable information about the Nuestra Familia, a prison gang, while in prison for the first murder.

Petitioner filed the underlying petition for writ of habeas corpus in this court challenging the judgment. He also filed in this court a motion for postconviction discovery under section 1054.9. He asks us to order the "prosecution to provide ... [a]ny and all reports, memoranda, notes, tape recordings, statements, transcripts, confidential files, debriefing documents, and/or summaries documenting or referring to petitioner's leaving the Nuestra Familia; to information provided by petitioner regarding the Nuestra Familia, its members and associates, and non-member collaborators; and to assistance provided by petitioner in prosecutions pursued by the State of California and/or local prosecutors against the Nuestra Familia and others accused of collaborating with the Nuestra Familia in the commission of crimes." He alleges that his current counsel "has conducted a good faith review of trial counsel's files and interviewed trial counsel and has ascertained that the materials sought here were not provided to trial counsel"; and that, accordingly, "despite his good faith efforts, habeas counsel ... has been unable to obtain the requested materials from trial counsel...." He has also provided a declaration from current counsel supporting these allegations. He argues that although he presented some evidence in mitigation at trial regarding his prison behavior, more such evidence existed, and the prosecution was and remains obligated to provide it to him.

The Attorney General's opposition to the motion and petitioner's reply to that opposition showed substantial disagreement regarding the scope of discovery the statute provides. In order to resolve the question, we ordered the Director of Corrections to show cause why the discovery motion should not be granted. In addition to other relevant matters the parties chose to brief, we directed them to brief the questions of which court should first hear the discovery motion and "what is the scope of the prosecution's duty, if any, to provide discovery of materials unrelated to the charged crimes or prosecution evidence in aggravation but that might provide penalty phase mitigating evidence." The Attorney General, representing the Director of Corrections, has filed a return to the order to show cause and petitioner a traverse. At our invitation, the California Habeas Corpus Resource Center (HCRC) has filed an amicus curiae brief addressing these issues.

II. DISCUSSION

In People v. Gonzalez (1990) 51 Cal.3d 1179, 275 Cal.Rptr. 729, 800 P.2d 1159, we held that a person seeking habeas corpus relief from a judgment of death is not entitled to court-ordered discovery unless and until this court has issued an order to show cause and thus has determined that the petition has stated a prima facie case for relief. (Id. at pp. 1255-1261, 275 Cal.Rptr. 729, 800 P.2d 1159.)

Effective January 1, 2003, the Legislature added section 1054.9 to the Penal Code. (Stats.2002, ch. 1105, § 1, enacting Sen. Bill No. 1391 (2001-2002 Reg. Sess.) (Senate Bill 1391).) Subdivisions (a) and (b) of that section are relevant here. Subdivision (a) provides: "Upon the prosecution of a postconviction writ of habeas corpus or a motion to vacate a judgment in a case in which a sentence of death or of life in prison without the possibility of parole has been imposed, and on a showing that good faith efforts to obtain discovery materials from trial counsel were made and were unsuccessful, the court shall, except as provided in subdivision (c) [which relates to physical evidence], order that the defendant be provided reasonable access to any of the materials described in subdivision (b)." Subdivision (b) provides: "For purposes of this section, `discovery materials' means materials in the possession of the prosecution and law enforcement authorities to which the same defendant would have been entitled at time of trial."

In his discovery motion, petitioner specifically alleged that his current attorney had made a good faith, but unsuccessful, effort to obtain the discovery materials from trial counsel and supplied a detailed declaration from his current attorney supporting the allegation. The Attorney General does not dispute this allegation. Thus, the "good faith effort" requirement is not at issue here. But other issues exist. Section 1054.9 says little about the procedure a defendant should follow in seeking the discovery materials, such as the time and place for making the motion. The parties also dispute the scope of permitted discovery and whether it extends to what petitioner seeks in this case. We will consider first the procedural questions, then the substantive questions.

A. Procedural Questions

Petitioner initially filed this motion in this court. Section 1054.9 does not specifically state which court should hear the motion first. It just says that the "court" shall order the appropriate discovery without designating either appellate or trial court. Petitioner argues in his traverse, "Because of the nature of the material sought in petitioner's discovery motion, this court is a more appropriate forum than the trial court for the motion in this case." The Attorney General contends, "A section 1054.9 request should be addressed to the court where the prisoner has filed the related state habeas petition or motion to vacate judgment," which in this instance is this court. Thus, both parties argue that the motion was properly filed first in this court, although for different reasons. The HCRC maintains that, because section 1054.9 merely says "court," the motion may be filed in any court. We agree with the HCRC that either the trial or the reviewing court has jurisdiction over the motion. But, as we explain, we believe that when, as here, no execution is imminent, the discovery motion should first be filed in the trial court that rendered the underlying judgment.

The Attorney General's argument assumes a habeas corpus petition (or, in other cases, a motion to vacate a judgment) will be pending in a state court when the motion is filed. The assumption is unfounded. The statute permits the motion "[u]pon the prosecution of a postconviction writ of habeas corpus...." (§ 1054.9, subd. (a).) In context, we believe the Legislature used the word "prosecution" flexibly to include cases in which...