In re Cook

7 Cal.5th 439

441 P.3d 912

247 Cal.Rptr.3d 669

IN RE Anthony Maurice COOK, Jr., on Habeas Corpus.

S240153

Supreme Court of California.

June 3, 2019

Anthony Maurice Cook, Jr., in pro. per.; and Michael Satris, Bolinas, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Petitioner Anthony Maurice Cook, Jr.

Heidi L. Rummel, Ian C. Graves and Richard L. Braucher for the Post-Conviction Justice Project and Pacific Juvenile Defender Center as Amici Curiae on behalf of Petitioner Anthony Maurice Cook, Jr.

Kamala D. Harris and Xavier Becerra, Attorneys General, Edward C. DuMont, State Solicitor General, Gerald A. Engler, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Julie L. Garland and Jeffrey M. Laurence, Assistant Attorneys General, Michael R. Johnsen, Deputy State Solicitor General, A. Natasha Cortina, Theodore Cropley, Parag Agrawal and Lynne G. McGinnis, Deputy Attorneys General, for Respondent the People.

Opinion of the Court by Corrigan, J.

In People v. Franklin (2016) 63 Cal.4th 261, 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 496, 370 P.3d 1053 ( Franklin ), the defendant committed a murder at age 16, was tried as an adult and given a sentence of 50 years to life. He challenged the sentence as a violation of the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. While his appeal was pending, the Legislature enacted Penal Code¹ sections 3051 and 4801 to provide a parole hearing during the 25th year of incarceration for certain juveniles sentenced as adults. Because Franklin was eligible for such a hearing, we held that his Eighth Amendment challenge was rendered moot, and affirmed his sentence. ( Franklin , at pp. 280, 286, 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 496, 370 P.3d 1053.) We also held that sections 3051 and 4801 contemplated "that information regarding the juvenile offender’s characteristics and circumstances at the time of the offense will be available at a youth offender parole hearing to facilitate" consideration by the Board of Parole Hearings (Board). ( Franklin , at p. 283, 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 496, 370 P.3d 1053.) Because assembling such information was "typically a task more easily done at or near the time of the juvenile’s offense" ( ibid . ), we remanded the case to the trial court to give Franklin a chance to "put on the record the kinds of information that sections 3051 and 4801 deem relevant at a youth offender parole hearing" ( id . at p. 284, 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 496, 370 P.3d 1053 ). We authorized the trial court to receive "any documents, evaluations, or testimony (subject to cross-examination) that may be relevant at [Franklin’s] eventual youth offender parole hearing." ( Ibid . )

Franklin involved a direct appeal. The question here is whether a sentenced prisoner whose conviction is final can seek the remedy of evidence preservation and, if so, by what means. We conclude that offenders with final convictions may file a motion in the trial court for that purpose, under the authority of section 1203.01. That statute provides that, postjudgment, the trial court may generate, collect, and transmit information about the defendant and the crime to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The statute specifically mentions statements prepared by the court, prosecutor, defense counsel, and investigating law enforcement agency. But the court has inherent authority under Code of Civil Procedure section 187 to authorize additional evidence preservation consistent with our holding in Franklin . Because section 1203.01 provides an adequate remedy at law to preserve evidence of youth-related factors, resort to a petition for writ of habeas corpus is unnecessary, at least in the first instance.

I. BACKGROUND

In 2007, Anthony Cook, Jr., was convicted of two counts of first degree murder and one count of premeditated attempted murder, with findings that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm, causing great bodily injury or death.² Cook was 17 years old when he committed the offenses. He was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole for the attempted murder, and five consecutive terms of 25 years to life for the murders and enhancements.

The judgment was affirmed on appeal.

In 2014, Cook filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus challenging his sentence as cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment and Miller v. Alabama (2012) 567 U.S. 460, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 ( Miller ). The Court of Appeal held that Cook’s sentence was constitutional because newly enacted sections 3051 and 4801 entitled him to a parole hearing during his 25th year of incarceration. Accordingly, it denied the writ, and Cook petitioned for review.

While Cook’s petition was pending, we decided Franklin , supra , 63 Cal.4th 261, 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 496, 370 P.3d 1053. Thereafter, we granted Cook’s petition for review and transferred the case to the Court of Appeal with directions to vacate its decision and consider whether, in light of Franklin , Cook was "entitled to make a record before the superior court of ‘mitigating evidence tied to his youth.’ " (In re Cook , S234512, Supreme Ct. Mins., July 13, 2016.)

On remand, the Court of Appeal held that Cook was entitled to such a proceeding. ( In re Cook (2017) 7 Cal.App.5th 393, 398–399, 212 Cal.Rptr.3d 646, review granted Apr. 12, 2017, S240153.) The court rejected the Attorney General’s argument that habeas corpus relief was not available because Franklin ’s remand procedure was not based on an underlying illegality or unlawful restraint as would be necessary to exercise habeas jurisdiction. ( Id . at pp. 399–400, 212 Cal.Rptr.3d 646.) It reasoned: "A previously convicted defendant may obtain relief by habeas corpus when changes in case law expanding a defendant’s rights are given retroactive effect." ( Id . at p. 399, 212 Cal.Rptr.3d 646.) Accordingly, the court held that "the deprivation of the rights granted by Franklin is cognizable on habeas corpus" and that the "appropriate remedy ... is to remand the matter to the trial court with directions to conduct a hearing at which [Cook] will have the opportunity to make such a record." ( Id . at p. 400, 212 Cal.Rptr.3d 646.)

We granted the Attorney General’s petition for review, and reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Scope of Franklin’s Holding

Whether juvenile offenders with final convictions are entitled to a Franklin evidence preservation proceeding turns on the scope of Franklin ’s holding. The Attorney General would have us limit entitlement to defendants sentenced after Franklin and to cases pending on direct appeal when Franklin was decided. He points out that Franklin did not find an illegality in the juvenile’s sentence. Instead, the remand procedure was based on a statutory change in the law providing for juvenile parole hearings. The Attorney General cites the presumption that, in the face of legislative silence, an amended statute applies only to defendants whose judgments are not yet final. (Citing People v. Brown (2012) 54 Cal.4th 314, 323, 142 Cal.Rptr.3d 824, 278 P.3d 1182 ; In re Estrada (1965) 63 Cal.2d 740, 744–748, 48 Cal.Rptr. 172, 408 P.2d 948.) He urges the authority for the remand in Franklin logically derived from (1) the procedural mechanisms available to the trial court to compile a relevant record at the sentencing stage of an open criminal action (§ 1204; Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.437 ; see Franklin , supra , 63 Cal.4th at p. 284, 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 496, 370 P.3d 1053 ); (2) this court’s inherent supervisory authority over criminal trial procedure (see Tide Water Assoc. Oil Co. v. Superior Court (1955) 43 Cal.2d 815, 825, 279 P.2d 35 ( Tide Water )); and (3) our authority on direct appeal to remand a criminal case "to the trial court for such further proceedings as may be just under the circumstances" (§ 1260). The Attorney General maintains that neither a trial nor reviewing court can authorize a proceeding of the scope contemplated in Franklin once the appeal has concluded and the conviction is final.

It is true that Franklin did not declare the juvenile’s sentence unlawful. ( Franklin , supra , 63 Cal.4th at pp. 278–281, 284, 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 496, 370 P.3d 1053.) Rather, we concluded that "[s]ection 3051 ... effectively reforms the parole eligibility date of a juvenile offender’s original sentence so that the longest possible term of incarceration before parole eligibility is 25 years." ( Id . at p. 281, 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 496, 370 P.3d 1053.) "[T]he combined operation of section 3051, section 3046, subdivision (c), and section 4801 means that Franklin is now serving a life sentence that includes a meaningful opportunity for release during his 25th year of incarceration. Such a sentence is neither [life without parole] nor its functional equivalent." ( Id. at pp. 279–280, 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 496, 370 P.3d 1053.) Accordingly, Franklin was "not subject to a sentence that presumes his incorrigibility; by operation of law, he is entitled to a parole hearing and possible release after 25 years of incarceration." ( Id . at p. 281, 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 496, 370 P.3d 1053.) Under our interpretation of the statutes, "Franklin’s two consecutive 25-year-to-life sentences remain valid , even though section 3051, subdivision (b)(3) has altered his parole eligibility date by operation of law ...." ( Id . at p. 284, 202 Cal.Rptr.3d 496, 370 P.3d 1053, italics added.) "By simply transforming the affected sentences to life with parole terms, [ section 3051 ] avoid[s] the Miller issues associated with the earlier sentences." ( In re Kirchner (2017) 2 Cal.5th 1040, 1054, 216 Cal.Rptr.3d 876, 393 P.3d 364 ( Kirchner ).) In the words of the high court: "Giving Miller retroactive effect ... does not require States to relitigate sentences, let alone convictions, in every case where a juvenile offender received mandatory life without parole. A State may remedy a Miller violation by permitting juvenile homicide offenders to be considered for parole, rather than by resentencing them." ( Montgomery v. Louisiana (2016) 577 U.S. ––––, 136 S.Ct. 718, 736, ...