People v. Castel

• Decision Date: 26 June 2017
• Docket Number: B271396
• Citation: 12 Cal.App.5th 1321,219 Cal.Rptr.3d 829
• Parties: The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Ignacio CASTEL, Defendant and Appellant.
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

12 Cal.App.5th 1321

219 Cal.Rptr.3d 829

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent,

v.Ignacio CASTEL, Defendant and Appellant.

B271396

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 2, California.

Filed June 26, 2017

Wayne C. Tobin, Newbury Park, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Xavier Becerra, Attorney General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Shawn McGahey Webb, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Noah P. Hill, Deputy Attorney General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

HOFFSTADT, J.

When a supervising agency files a petition to modify, revoke, or terminate a criminal defendant's parole or postrelease community supervision, its petition must be accompanied by a written report containing information specified by statute and the California Rules of Court. (Pen. Code, §§ 1203.2, subd. (b)(1) & 3000.08, subd. (f) ;¹ Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.541.) When a district attorney files such a petition, its petition need not be accompanied by such a report. (§ 1203.2, subd. (b)(1) ; cf. § 3000.08, subd. (f).) Does this procedural difference violate equal protection by treating similarly situated defendants differently without a rational basis for doing so? We conclude there is no equal protection violation, and affirm the revocation of parole in this case.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Ignacio Castel (defendant) pled no contest to one count of felony assault (§ 459), and he was sentenced to three years in state prison. Following his release from state prison, he was placed on parole.

In 2015, while on parole, defendant threatened to kill two of his in-laws. The People charged him with a misdemeanor violation of making criminal threats (§ 422). He pled no contest to the charge, and the trial court sentenced him to three years of informal probation, including nine days in jail.

Soon thereafter, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office (District Attorney) filed a petition seeking revocation of defendant's parole.

Defendant filed a demurrer to the petition. He argued that the District Attorney's petition was facially deficient under People v. Osorio (2015) 235 Cal.App.4th 1408, 185 Cal.Rptr.3d 881 (Osorio ) because it was not accompanied by the written report that must accompany petitions filed by supervising parole agencies. Defendant also filed a "motion for sanctions" in which he sought an order compelling the preparation of a written report, asserting that the Legislature's failure to require a written report for district attorney-filed petitions violated equal protection.

In a nine-page order, the trial court overruled the demurrer and denied the motion for sanctions. The court overruled the demurrer because the pertinent statutes authorize a district attorney to file a petition to revoke parole without any accompanying report. The court also rejected defendant's equal protection argument. The court accepted that parolees and other supervised persons are similarly situated no matter who (a district attorney or a supervising parole agency) seeks their revocation. However, the court concluded that our Legislature had a rational basis for treating the two groups differently—namely, (1) that a written report spelling out additional information about the parolee's or supervised person's "history and background" as well as an explanation as to why sanctions short of revocation are appropriate "is less essential for parole-revocation petitions filed by a district attorney because they typically involve violations amounting to criminal conduct (rather than technical violations)"; and (2) that the information necessary to compile the required written report is not available to district attorneys.²

Defendant then waived his rights to a contested hearing and admitted the parole violation. The trial court sentenced defendant to 150 days in jail and reinstated his parole.

Defendant filed a timely notice of appeal. Although defendant's appointed counsel filed a brief pursuant to People v. Wende (1979) 25 Cal.3d 436, 158 Cal.Rptr. 839, 600 P.2d 1071, and defendant filed no supplemental brief, we independently reviewed the record and ordered supplemental briefing on the issues set forth in this opinion.

DISCUSSION

Defendant contends that the trial court erred in (1) overruling his demurrer, and (2) rejecting his equal protection argument. We review both claims de novo. (Aryeh v. Canon Business Solutions, Inc. (2013) 55 Cal.4th 1185, 1191, 151 Cal.Rptr.3d 827, 292 P.3d 871 [demurrer]; California Grocers Assn. v. City of Los Angeles (2011) 52 Cal.4th 177, 208, 127 Cal.Rptr.3d 726, 254 P.3d 1019 [equal protection claim].)

As a threshold matter, the People argue that defendant's challenge to his parole violation is now moot because he has finished serving the 150-day jail sentence that was the sole penalty for his violation. We have the discretion to reach issues present on appeal, even if they are moot, if they involve "issues of broad public interest that are likely to recur." (Coachella Valley Mosquito & Vector Control Dist. v. California Public Employment Relations Bd. (2005) 35 Cal.4th 1072, 1079, fn. 3, 29 Cal.Rptr.3d 234, 112 P.3d 623.) The demurrer and equal protection issues presented in this appeal qualify as such.

I. Demurrer

A defendant in a criminal case may demur to a charging document on several grounds, including the absence of "jurisdiction of the offense charged therein" and any "legal bar to the prosecution." (§ 1004, subds. 1 & 5.)

Depending on the offense(s) for which they have been incarcerated, persons released from state prison are placed either (1) on parole, where they are supervised by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or (2) on postrelease community supervision, where they are supervised by a county probation office. (§§ 3000.08, subds. (a), (b), (i) & 3451.) A petition to revoke a defendant's parole or postrelease community supervision may be filed by the parole officer (in the case of parole), the probation officer (in the case of postrelease community supervision), or the district attorney. (§ 1203.2, subd. (b)(1).)

If the petition is filed by the parole or probation officer, the petition must "include a written report that contains additional information regarding the petition." (§ 3000.08, subd. (f).) That additional information includes: (1) "the relevant terms and conditions of parole" or postrelease community supervision, (2) "the circumstances of the alleged underlying violation," (3) "the history and background of the parolee," (4) "recommended sanctions," and (5) "the reasons for [the] agency's determination that intermediate sanctions without court intervention"—such as electronic monitoring, additional services or incentives, or "flash incarceration" (that is, a short stint in jail for up to 10 consecutive days)—"are inappropriate responses to the alleged violations." (§§ 3000.08, subds. (e), (f) & 3454, subd. (b) ; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.541(c), (e).)

If the petition is filed by the district attorney, no such written report is required. (Cf. § 3000.08, subd. (f) ; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.541.) Instead, the court will "refer ... the petition to the probation or parole officer," who must then prepare and submit a written report to the court. (§ 1203.2, subd. (b)(1).)

A supervising agency's failure to include the statutorily required written report with a petition for revocation renders the pleading deficient and subject to demurrer. (Osorio , supra , 235 Cal.App.4th at pp. 1412-1415, 185 Cal.Rptr.3d 881 ; see also People v. Hronchak (2016) 2 Cal.App.5th 884, 891-892, 206 Cal.Rptr.3d 483 [applying this rule to information that California Rules of Court, rule 4.541 specifies must be included in the written report].)

The trial court correctly overruled the demurrer in this case. The pertinent statutes detailed above do not require a petition to revoke parole or postrelease community supervision filed by a district attorney to be accompanied by a written report. Accordingly, the district attorney's failure to include such a report does not render the pleading deficient.

II. Equal Protection

Both the federal and California Constitutions guarantee that no person shall be "den[ied] ... the equal protection of the laws." (U.S. Const., 14th Amend.; Cal. Const., art. I, § 7.) Equal protection of the laws means that similarly situated persons shall be treated similarly unless there is a sufficiently good reason to treat them differently. (People v. Morales (2016) 63 Cal.4th 399, 408, 203 Cal.Rptr.3d 130, 371 P.3d 592 ; Engquist v. Oregon Depart. of Agriculture (2008) 553 U.S. 591, 602, 128 S.Ct. 2146, 170 L.Ed.2d 975 ; see Johnson v. Department of Justice (2015) 60 Cal.4th 871, 881, 183 Cal.Rptr.3d 96, 341 P.3d 1075 (Johnson ) [federal and state equal protection guarantees have similar interpretation].)

The first step in evaluating any equal protection claim is determining whether there are two groups of individuals who are " ‘ "similarly situated with respect to the legitimate purpose of the law" ’ " but are being treated differently. (People v. Barrett (2012) 54 Cal.4th 1081, 1107, 144 Cal.Rptr.3d 661, 281 P.3d 753, quoting In re Gary W. (1971) 5 Cal.3d 296, 303, 96 Cal.Rptr. 1, 486 P.2d 1201 ; accord, Vergara v. State of California (2016) 246 Cal.App.4th 619, 644, 209 Cal.Rptr.3d 532.) If the two groups are not similarly situated or are not being treated differently, then there can be no equal protection violation. However, if these threshold requirements are met, a court must next ascertain whether the Legislature has a constitutionally sufficient reason to treat the groups differently. ( In re Marriage Cases (2008) 43 Cal.4th 757, 831, 76 Cal.Rptr.3d 683, 183 P.3d 384.) Unless the groups are defined by word or effect as members of a "suspect class" (such as race, national origin, gender, or illegitimacy, to name a few) or the law affects a fundamental right, a law will be upheld as long as...