Evans

California law requires that in a criminal case a trial court must, before imposing sentence, ask the defendant whether there is “any legal cause to show why judgment should not be pronounced against him.” (Pen. Code, § 1200.) This inquiry is called the “allocution.” At issue is whether, in response to the allocution, the defendant has the right to make an unsworn personal statement in mitigation of punishment. Here, the Court of Appeal held that a criminal defendant has no such right, expressly disagreeing with In re Shannon B. (1994) 22 Cal.App.4th 1235 [ 27 Cal.Rptr.2d 800 ] (Shannon B.), in which a different Court of Appeal reached a contrary conclusion. We conclude that California law gives a defendant the right to make a personal statement in mitigation of punishment but only while under oath and subject to cross-examination by the prosecutor.

I

A jury convicted defendant Blaine Allen Evans of receiving stolen property, a felony. The trial court found that defendant had been convicted of five felonies for which he had served prior prison terms (§ 667.5, subd. (b)) and that he had previously been convicted of a serious or violent felony constituting a “strike” (§…