Cowan

Cowan v. Superior Court

Bad Law

14 Cal. 4th 367·1996 Cal. LEXIS 6519·58 Cal. Rptr. 2d 458·96 Daily Journal DAR 14675·926 P.2d 438

Supreme Court of CaliforniaDecember 9, 1996No. S052051California11,749 words

Opinion

lead Opinion

Chin, J.

*370 Opinion

Petitioner, facing capital murder charges, agreed to plead guilty to the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter. Prosecution of that offense, however, is time-barred. Petitioner wants to waive the statute of limitations for voluntary manslaughter to avoid prosecution on the greater charges. We must decide whether he may effectively do so. We conclude that he may expressly waive the statute of limitations when, as here, the waiver is for his benefit.

Facts

A complaint filed in 1994 charged petitioner with committing three murders in 1984 under special circumstances. After the preliminary hearing, petitioner and the district attorney engaged in plea negotiations. They agreed that petitioner would plead no contest to one count of voluntary manslaughter with a knife use enhancement and receive a maximum prison sentence of four years. In return, the remaining charges would be dismissed. Petitioner pleaded no contest as agreed. Before sentencing, however, the district attorney moved to set aside the plea “on the grounds that the plea is illegal because the statute of limitations has run on voluntary manslaughter. The statute of limitations is jurisdictional and cannot…

035concurrenceinpart Opinion

Brown, J.

I concur in the majority’s holding that petitioner Gerald Thomas Cowan (Cowan) should be permitted to enter a no contest plea to the lesser offense of voluntary manslaughter in exchange for dismissal of the greater charges. However, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that Cowan must expressly waive the statute of limitations for voluntary manslaughter in order to do so.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

On September 23, 1994, Cowan was charged with three counts of murder with special circumstances and a number of related enhancements. On *384 January 29, 1996, pursuant to a negotiated disposition, Cowan entered a no contest plea to one count of voluntary manslaughter and to a knife use enhancement allegation. In exchange, Cowan was to receive a maximum prison sentence of four years, and the remaining charges were to be dismissed.

Prior to sentencing, the district attorney realized that the statute of limitations had run on the charge of voluntary manslaughter. Accordingly, the district attorney filed a motion to set aside Cowan’s plea “on the grounds that the plea is illegal .... The statute of limitations is jurisdictional and cannot be waived.” At the…

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Parties

GERALD THOMAS COWAN
Plaintiff
THE SUPERIOR COURT OF KERN COUNTY THE PEOPLE
Defendant

Judges

Baxter
Brown
Chin

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