Garcia

A jury convicted defendant of second degree robbery and the unlawful taking of a vehicle. Defendant appeals his robbery conviction and the finding he previously had been convicted of other felonies. Both defendant and the People appeal the sentence claiming the trial court misapplied the “three strikes” law. We find no error in the robbery conviction. As to the sentencing, we do not reach the three strikes issues because the trial court committed reversible error in failing to obtain valid waivers of the defendant’s constitutional rights before accepting his admissions of three prior convictions. For these reasons, we affirm the convictions and reverse the sentence, remanding the cause for a trial on the prior convictions and resentencing.

Facts and Proceedings Below

Defendant entered a market and approached one of the cashiers as she stood in front of an open cash register. Defendant lightly pushed his left shoulder against the cashier’s right shoulder, “like a tap.” Feeling this push or “tap” on her shoulder, the cashier moved away from the cash register *1245 because she was afraid defendant might be armed. The defendant scooped up stacks of bills from the register…

I agree with the opinion of the court and write separately only to emphasize, again, 1 the responsibility of the district attorney to obtain valid guilty pleas and admissions.

The district attorney, by charging appellant with second degree robbery, subjected him to a five-year state prison term. By alleging two serious priors, the district attorney quintupled the stakes to twenty-five years to life.

These stakes, if nothing else, demand the attention of a competent prosecutor. The task of eliciting a valid admission is rudimentary. It 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 ]) and has not changed (People v. Howard, (1992) 1 Cal.4th 1132, 1175 [ 5 Cal.Rptr.2d 268 , 824 P.2d 1315 ]).

Since the district attorney obtains over 80 percent of his convictions not by trial but by guilty plea and admission, self-interest should ensure mastery of this rudimentary procedure.

Apparently—if People v. Howard (see fn. 1, ante), People v. Torres (see fn. 1, ante), and the instant case are any measure—it has not.

As a consequence of the district…

A jury convicted defendant of second degree robbery and the unlawful taking of a vehicle. Defendant appeals his robbery conviction and the finding he previously had been convicted of other felonies. Both defendant and the People appeal the sentence claiming the trial court misapplied the "three strikes" law. We find no error in the robbery conviction. As to the sentencing, we do not reach the three strikes issues because the trial court committed reversible error in failing to obtain valid waivers of the defendant's constitutional rights before accepting his admissions of three prior convictions. For these reasons, we affirm the convictions and reverse the sentence, remanding the cause for a trial on the prior convictions and resentencing.

Defendant entered a market and approached one of the cashiers as she stood in front of an open cash register. Defendant lightly pushed his left shoulder against the cashier's right shoulder, "like a tap." Feeling this push or "tap" on her shoulder, the cashier moved away from the cash register because she was afraid defendant might be armed. The defendant scooped up stacks of bills from the register and escaped.

Several…