People v. Mendez

• Decision Date: 14 January 1999
• Docket Number: No. S066175,S066175
• Citation: 81 Cal.Rptr.2d 301,969 P.2d 146,19 Cal.4th 1084
• Parties: , 969 P.2d 146, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 437, 98 Daily Journal D.A.R. 489 The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Trino Villa MENDEZ, Defendant and Appellant
• Court: California Supreme Court

Page 301

81 Cal.Rptr.2d 301

19 Cal.4th 1084, 969 P.2d 146, 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 437,

98 Daily Journal D.A.R. 489

The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Trino Villa MENDEZ, Defendant and Appellant.

No. S066175.

Supreme Court of California

Jan. 14, 1999.

Phillip I. Bronson and Steven C. Bronson, under appointments by the Supreme Court, Encino, for Defendant and Appellant.

Daniel E. Lungren, Attorney General, George Williamson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Assistant Attorney General, Esteban Hernandez and Jeffrey J. Koch, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

MOSK, J.

A defendant who has pleaded guilty or nolo contendere to a charge in the superior court, and who seeks to take an appeal from a judgment of conviction entered thereon, may not obtain review of so-called "certificate" issues, that is, questions going to the legality of the proceedings, including the validity of his plea, unless he has complied with section 1237.5 of the Penal Code ¹ and the first paragraph of rule 31(d) of the California Rules of Court ² -- which require him to file in the superior court a statement of certificate grounds as an intended notice of appeal within 60 days after rendition of judgment and to obtain from the superior court a certificate of probable cause for the appeal within 20 days after filing of the statement and, hence, within a maximum of 80 days after rendition of judgment.

Such a defendant may obtain review solely of so-called "noncertificate" issues, that is, post-plea questions not challenging his plea's validity and/or questions involving a search or seizure whose lawfulness was contested pursuant to section 1538.5, if he has complied with the second paragraph of rule 31(d) ³ -- which requires him to file in the superior court a notice of appeal stating noncertificate grounds within 60 days after rendition of judgment.

We granted review in this cause to address the following question: In order to obtain review of certificate issues, must such a defendant have complied with section 1237.5 and rule 31(d), first paragraph, fully, and, specifically, in a timely fashion? The answer, as we shall explain, is: Yes.

I

Appellant Trinidad (or Trino) Villa Mendez was riding one day in the city of Barstow in San Bernardino County with his brother Pedro in Pedro's black 1976 Ford pickup truck; Mendez directed Pedro to the vicinity of the Tijuanitas Apartments on Crook Street; he had Pedro park, got out himself, returned after about 15 minutes with one Jose Carrillo, and shoved him in; he had Pedro drive to the open desert some 10 or 15 miles outside the city and about 1 1/2 miles from a cemetery; once at Fort Irwin Road north of State Highway 58, he had Pedro stop, and pulled Carrillo out alongside the road; he began to beat him with his fists; Pedro left the truck, tried to intervene but was prevented by Mendez, and returned to the vehicle; Mendez then began to stab Carrillo with a knife; again, Pedro left the truck, and tried to intervene but was prevented by Mendez; finishing his attack, Mendez left Carrillo dead at the bottom of a berm about 8 to 10 feet from the road, with the knife lodged in the left side of his chest; he took the truck's keys from Pedro, entered the vehicle with him, and drove from the scene; he subsequently admitted the substance of what he had done to his mother, who would later disclose it to the authorities. In his encounter with Carrillo, Mendez was searching for one Miguel Cervantes, who had testified against him at a trial resulting in a conviction and sentence of imprisonment for rape; Carrillo said that he did not know Cervantes's whereabouts; Mendez evidently did not believe him, and made him pay with his life. It appears that Mendez soon fled to Mexico, and that, years later, he returned to the area, and was then arrested and committed to jail.

By complaint filed before a magistrate of the San Bernardino County Municipal Court, the People charged Mendez in a single count with murder. For enhancement of sentence, they alleged that he personally used a deadly or dangerous weapon, viz., a knife, in its commission. The magistrate appointed him counsel.

It appears that, not long afterwards, the magistrate certified to the superior court a special proceeding on Mendez's mental competence under the statutory scheme set out at section 1367 et seq. After a trial, the superior court found him mentally incompetent, suspended the criminal proceedings, and committed him to Patton State Hospital for evaluation and treatment with a view toward his expeditious restoration to mental competence. The hospital's medical director subsequently made a determination that he had regained mental competence, and filed a certificate of restoration thereto. After a hearing, the superior court found him to have recovered mental competence and reinstated the criminal proceedings.

Mendez pleaded not guilty to the murder charge, including therewith a denial of the personal use allegation.

After a preliminary examination, the magistrate held Mendez to answer.

By information filed in the superior court, as subsequently amended, the People charged Mendez in the first of two counts with murder. For enhancement of sentence, they alleged that he personally used a deadly or dangerous weapon in the form of a knife in its commission. They charged him in the second count with kidnapping. For enhancement of sentence, they alleged, as to each of the charges, that he had previously been convicted of rape. For the same purpose, they alleged, again as to each of the charges, that he had previously served a prison term for his rape conviction. The superior court appointed him counsel.

Mendez pleaded not guilty, and not guilty by reason of insanity, to the murder and kidnapping charges, including therewith a denial of the personal use, prior conviction, and prior prison term allegations.

The superior court subsequently declared a doubt as to Mendez's mental competence, and again suspended the criminal proceedings. After a trial, it found him mentally incompetent and committed him to Patton State Hospital a second time for further evaluation and treatment. The hospital's medical director subsequently made a second determination that he had regained mental competence, and filed a second certificate of restoration thereto. After a hearing, at which the People and Mendez submitted the question on the basis of a report transmitted by the hospital's medical director, the superior court, for a second time, found him to have recovered mental competence and reinstated the criminal proceedings.

The People and Mendez succeeded in negotiating a disposition, without waiver of his right of appeal, whereby he would plead guilty to the murder charge, but in the second degree, and they would move to dismiss the kidnapping charge and strike the personal use, prior conviction, and prior prison term allegations. With the superior court's leave, he withdrew his original plea to the charges of not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity, including his denial of the allegations, and entered a new and different plea of guilty to second degree murder with a maximum sentence of imprisonment for 15 years to life. On that basis, the superior court convicted him of second degree murder. It later sentenced him to imprisonment for 15 years to life, and, in reliance on a probation report, awarded him credit for 1,226 days in presentence custody, comprising 914 days for actual time in such custody and 312 days for work performance and good behavior. On the People's motion, it expressly dismissed the kidnapping charge and impliedly struck the allegations. It proceeded to render judgment accordingly. It then caused entry of judgment.

Mendez filed a notice of appeal in the superior court immediately after rendition of judgment. He completed a preprinted form designed for use after a plea of guilty or nolo contendere. By check mark, he indicated that his appeal was based on noncertificate grounds, specifically, post-plea matters not challenging the validity of his guilty plea, albeit without identifying what they might be. He did not indicate that his appeal was based on certificate grounds as well. Hence, he did not fill out a section (which his counsel happened to sign) in which he could have stated such grounds with an eye toward obtaining a certificate of probable cause. The superior court clerk prepared the record on appeal, including both clerk's and reporter's transcripts.

Mendez's appeal was docketed in the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Two. The Court of Appeal appointed him counsel. He moved to augment the record on appeal with a reporter's transcript of the hearing that resulted in the superior court's second finding of recovery of mental competence and reinstatement of criminal proceedings. The Court of Appeal so ordered. The superior court clerk prepared the augmentation of the record on appeal comprising the reporter's transcript referred to above.

About six months after rendition of judgment, Mendez returned to the superior court. Assertedly pursuant to section 1237.5, but not within 60 days after rendition of judgment as expressly prescribed by rule 31(d), first paragraph, he filed a statement of certificate grounds, which went to the legality of the proceedings, and, specifically, the validity of his guilty plea -- to the effect that the superior court accepted his guilty plea while he may have been mentally incompetent, because it assertedly failed to hold a hearing on his mental competence after Patton State Hospital's medical director had made his second determination that he had regained mental competence and had filed his second certificate of restoration thereto, and because his counsel assertedly failed to request such a hearing. Assertedly pursuant to section 1237.5, but not within the maximum of 80 days after rendition of judgment as impliedly...