Torres

Rafael Torres appeals from judgment entered following a jury trial in which he was convicted of second degree robbery (Pen. Code, §211) with the finding that during the commission of the offense he personally used a deadly instrument, a screwdriver, within the meaning of Penal Code section 12022, subdivision (b), second degree burglary of a vehicle (Pen. Code, § 459), and assault with a deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1)). He contends the court committed prejudicial instructional error, there was no substantial evidence that a robbery occurred, the court’s findings on the allegations of prior convictions must be vacated because defendant’s admissions were neither intelligent nor voluntary, the trial court erred in concluding it lacked discretion to strike the allegations of prior strike convictions, his sentence was cruel and unusual punishment, he was not subject to three strikes sentencing because the subject matter of that legislation could not constitutionally be enacted as an urgency measure, and imposition of sentence for *1077 the burglary conviction should have been stayed pursuant to Penal Code section…

Although I fully join in the court’s opinion, I believe the Boykin/Tahl/Yurko error requires additional comment.

The district attorney is responsible for filing and proving criminal charges. In the overwhelming number of cases, more than 90 percent, those charges are proved not by evidence at trial but by eliciting a defendant’s guilty plea and admission.

How to elicit such guilty pleas and admissions has been expressly prescribed for over 25 years. (Boykin v. Alabama (1969) 395 U.S. 238 [ 23 L.Ed.2d 274 , 89 S.Ct. 1709 ]; In re Tahl (1969) 1 Cal.3d 122 [ 81 Cal.Rptr. 577 , 460 P.2d 449 ].) The necessity to advise a defendant of his rights to jury trial, confrontation, and not to incriminate himself—has not changed. (People v. Howard (1992) 1 Cal.4th 1132, 1175 [ 5 Cal.Rptr.2d 268 , 824 P.2d 1315 ].)

When the district attorney is asked to elicit a valid guilty plea or admission, as was done here and is commonly done, the trial court and the People have a right to expect this simple, routine duty will be competently discharged. Failure to competently discharge that duty, as here, disserves the administration of justice and wastes precious, increasingly scarce resources.

The…

Rafael Torres appeals from judgment entered following a jury trial in which he was convicted of second degree robbery (Pen. Code, § 211) with the finding that during the commission of the offense he personally used a deadly instrument, a screwdriver, within the meaning of Penal Code section 12022, subdivision (b), second degree burglary of a vehicle (Pen. Code, § 459), and assault with a deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a)(1)). He contends the court committed prejudicial instructional error, there was no substantial evidence that a robbery occurred, the court's findings on the allegations of prior convictions must be vacated because defendant's admissions were neither intelligent nor voluntary, the trial court erred in concluding it lacked discretion to strike the allegations of prior strike convictions, his sentence was cruel and unusual punishment, he was not subject to three strikes sentencing because the subject matter of that legislation could not constitutionally be enacted as an urgency measure, and imposition of sentence for the burglary conviction should have been stayed pursuant to Penal Code…