California Cases June 30, 2020: In re Corpus

Case Description

Joseph Vincent Doyle, for Respondent FRANK RAY CHAVEZ.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND REHABILITATION, Xavier Becerra, Attorney General of California, Phillip J. Lindsay, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Sarah J. Romano, Supervising Deputy Attorney General, Michael Joseph Lagrama, Deputy Attorney General, for Appellant DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND REHABILITATION.

ELIA, J.

[51 Cal.App.5th 750]

Appellant California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) challenges the superior court's order granting respondent Frank Ray Chavez's habeas corpus petition and ordering the CDCR to grant early parole consideration to Chavez under Proposition 57. The CDCR contends that the superior court erred in ruling invalid the CDCR's regulation, which excluded from eligibility for early parole consideration under Proposition 57 any inmate who, like Chavez, had suffered a prior conviction for a sexual offense that required sex offender registration. The superior court, relying on In re Gadlin (2019) 31 Cal.App.5th 784, 243 Cal.Rptr.3d 331 ( Gadlin ), review granted May 15, 2019, S254599, concluded that the CDCR's regulation was inconsistent with Proposition 57 and therefore did not justify the CDCR's refusal to grant Chavez early parole consideration. The CDCR challenges that conclusion on appeal, but we agree with the superior court and affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

In 1994, Chavez was convicted by plea of assault with intent to commit rape ( Pen. Code, § 220 ), a sex offense requiring sex offender registration under section 290 (§ 290, subd. (c)). He was sentenced to nine years in state prison. In 1999, Chavez pleaded guilty to failing to register as a sex offender (former § 290, subd. (g)(2); current § 290.018, subd. (b)) and admitted five

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strike (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12) allegations. Chavez was sentenced to a Three Strikes term of 25 years to life for the failure to register offense.

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In February 2018, Chavez's request to be granted early parole consideration under Proposition 57 was denied, and he was informed that his initial parole consideration proceeding was tentatively scheduled for July 2021.

In May 2018, Chavez filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus raising numerous issues, including his challenge to the CDCR's refusal to grant him early parole consideration under Proposition 57. The superior court denied his petition as to the other issues, but in October 2018 it issued an order to show cause (OSC) on the Proposition 57 issue.

In March 2019, the court granted Chavez's petition as to the Proposition 57 issue and ordered the CDCR to "provide Chavez with early parole consideration within 60 days" of its order. On May 1, the CDCR asked the superior court to stay its order pending appeal. The court denied the request. On May 9, the CDCR filed a notice of appeal from the court's order. On May 23, we issued a temporary stay, and on October 2, we issued a writ of supersedeas staying the superior court's order pending final resolution of this appeal.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Proposition 57

Proposition 57, which took effect in November 2016, is entitled "The Public Safety and Rehabilitation Act of 2016." (Voter Information Guide, Gen. Elec. (Nov. 8, 2016) text of Prop. 57, § 1, p. 141 (Voter Information Guide).) Its express purposes are: "1. Protect and enhance public safety. [¶] 2. Save money by reducing wasteful spending on prisons. [¶] 3. Prevent federal courts from indiscriminately releasing prisoners. [¶] 4. Stop the revolving door of crime by emphasizing rehabilitation, especially for juveniles. [¶] 5. Require a judge, not a prosecutor, to decide whether juveniles should be tried in adult court." ( Id. , § 2, p. 141.)

One of the provisions added by Proposition 57 was section 32 of Article I of the California Constitution. Section 32 provides: "(a) The following provisions are hereby enacted to enhance public safety, improve rehabilitation, and

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avoid the release of prisoners by federal court order, notwithstanding anything in this article or any other provision of law: [¶] (1) Parole Consideration: Any person convicted of a nonviolent felony offense and sentenced to state prison shall be eligible for parole consideration after completing the full term for his or her primary offense. [¶] (A) For purposes of this section only, the full term for the primary offense means the longest term of imprisonment imposed by the court for any offense, excluding the imposition of an enhancement, consecutive sentence, or alternative sentence. [¶] (2) Credit Earning: The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall have authority to award credits earned for good behavior and approved rehabilitative or educational

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achievements. [¶] (b) The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall adopt regulations in furtherance of these provisions, and the Secretary of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall certify that these regulations protect and enhance public safety." ( Cal. Const., Art. I, § 32.) Proposition 57 provided that "[t]his act shall be liberally construed to effectuate its purposes." (Voter Information Guide, supra , text of Prop. 57, § 9, p. 146; see also id. § 5, p. 145 ["This act shall be broadly construed to accomplish its purposes"].)

B. The CDCR's Regulations

After Proposition 57 took effect, the CDCR adopted regulations implementing early parole consideration for inmates under section 32. "When defining those inmates who will be eligible for early parole consideration, CDCR's rulemaking took a different approach than the constitutional provision—focusing less on the nature of an offense committed by a person (i.e., ‘a nonviolent felony offense’) and more on the person who commits one or more crimes." ( In re Mohammad (2019) 42 Cal.App.5th 719, 723, 255 Cal.Rptr.3d 706, review granted Feb. 19, 2020, S259999.) The CDCR's regulations provide that an indeterminately-sentenced inmate convicted of a nonviolent offense is eligible for early parole consideration under section 32 and generally is entitled to a parole consideration hearing within one year of January 1, 2019. ( Cal. Code Regs., tit. 15, §§ 2449.32, 3496, 3497.) However, the CDCR's regulations also provide that "an inmate is not eligible

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for a parole consideration hearing by the Board of Parole Hearings under [ Cal. Code Regs., tit. 15, § 2449.32 (early parole consideration under section 32 ) ] if the inmate is convicted of a sexual offense that currently requires or will require registration as a sex offender under the Sex Offender Registration Act, codified in Sections 290 through 290.024 of the Penal Code." ( Cal. Code Regs., tit. 15, § 3496, subd. (b).) The CDCR enacted this restrictive regulation because, in its view, " ‘these sex offenses demonstrate a sufficient degree of violence and represent an unreasonable risk to public safety to require that sex offenders be excluded from nonviolent parole consideration.’ " ( Gadlin, supra , 31 Cal.App.5th at p. 788, 243 Cal.Rptr.3d 331.)

C. Standard of Review

"Whenever by the express or implied terms of any statute a state agency has authority to adopt regulations to implement, interpret, make specific or otherwise carry out the provisions of the statute, no regulation adopted is valid or effective unless consistent and not in conflict with the statute and reasonably necessary to effectuate the purpose of the statute." ( Gov. Code, § 11342.2.)

"In determining the proper interpretation of a statute and the validity of an administrative regulation, the administrative agency's construction is entitled to great weight, and if there appears to be a reasonable basis for it, a court will not substitute its judgment for that of the administrative body.... [¶] On the other hand, ... ‘ there is no agency discretion to promulgate a regulation which is inconsistent with the governing statute. ’ " (

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Ontario Community Foundations, Inc. v. State Bd. of Equalization (1984) 35 Cal.3d 811, 816, 201 Cal.Rptr. 165, 678 P.2d 378.) "[T]he burden of proof is on the party challenging the regulation. ‘The agency's action comes before the court with a presumption of correctness and regularity, which places the burden of demonstrating invalidity upon the assailant.’ " ( Credit Ins. Gen. Agents Assn. v. Payne (1976) 16 Cal.3d 651, 657, 128 Cal.Rptr. 881, 547 P.2d 993.)

D. Analysis

The CDCR contends that its regulation excluding sex offenders is valid because it is consistent with the CDCR's understanding of the voters' intent

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in enacting section 32. The CDCR maintains that "subdivision (a)(1) of Section 32 has an undefined scope," and that, looking beyond section 32 's "text alone" to the "ballot pamphlet," it could reasonably conclude that "the voters' intent" was "that sex offenders be excluded from Proposition 57's nonviolent parole process." The CDCR believes that "Proposition 57's intent was to implement parole reform for nonviolent inmates who are not sex offenders."

"The general principles that govern interpretation of a statute enacted by the Legislature apply also to an initiative measure enacted by the voters. [Citation.] Thus, our primary task here is to ascertain the intent of the electorate [citation] so as to effectuate that intent [citation]. [¶] We look first to the words of the initiative measure, as they generally provide the most reliable indicator of the voters' intent. [Citations.] Usually, there is no need to construe a provision's words when they are clear and unambiguous and thus not reasonably susceptible of more than one meaning. [Citations.] ... [¶] A literal construction of an enactment, however, will not control when such a construction would frustrate the manifest purpose of the enactment as a whole. [Citations.] ... In determining the purpose of an initiative measure, we consider the analysis and arguments contained in the official election materials submitted to the voters." ( Arias v. Superior Court (2009) 46 Cal.4th 969, 978-979, 95 Cal.Rptr.3d 588, 209 P.3d 923.)

The key questions we must ask are whether the CDCR's exclusion of sex offenders is consistent or inconsistent with section 32 's provisions and whether the CDCR could reasonably conclude that its exclusion of sex offenders was "in furtherance of" section 32 's "provisions."

We begin with the relevant express provisions of section 32. Section 32 provides that " [a]ny person convicted of a nonviolent felony offense and sentenced to state prison shall be eligible for parole consideration after completing the full term for his or her primary offense." This provision broadly applies to "[a]ny" inmate convicted of a nonviolent felony and, because it uses "shall," is explicitly mandatory. It contains no suggestion that it is

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restricted to those lacking certain prior convictions. The fact that Proposition 57 expressly requires that its provisions "shall be liberally construed to effectuate its purposes" rebuts any possible inference that the voters intended for this broad mandate to be restricted by the CDCR's enactment of regulations deeming ineligible some of those identified as

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eligible in section 32. (Voter Information Guide, supra , text of Prop. 57, § 9, p. 146, italics added.) Accordingly, we conclude that the CDCR's restrictive regulation is inconsistent with section 32 's express provisions.

The CDCR claims otherwise and points to section 32 's express authorization for the CDCR to "adopt regulations in furtherance of [ section 32 's] provisions" and to "certify that these regulations protect and enhance public safety." We disagree. The CDCR could not have reasonably concluded that its restrictive regulation was "in furtherance" of the broad mandate that the voters had explicitly required to be liberally construed.

The CDCR claims that the words "[a]ny person convicted of a nonviolent felony offense" is ambiguous and that we should examine arguments in the Voter Information Guide for evidence of the voters' intent. It is true that, even where provisions are clear and unambiguous, "the ‘plain meaning’ rule does not prohibit a court from determining whether the literal meaning of a statute comports with its purpose.... Literal construction should not prevail if it is contrary to the legislative intent apparent in the statute. The intent prevails over the letter, and the letter will, if possible, be so read as to conform to the spirit of the act. [Citations.] .... These rules apply as well to the interpretation of constitutional provisions." ( Lungren v. Deukmejian (1988) 45 Cal.3d 727, 735, 248 Cal.Rptr. 115, 755 P.2d 299.) The flaw in the CDCR's argument is that the voters expressly stated their intent: a broad mandate that they required to be liberally construed. This express intent precludes reliance on ballot arguments to support a restrictive interpretation of that broad mandate.

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The Second District Court of Appeal rejected a similar argument in Gadlin. It concluded that section 32 's express references to "convicted," "sentenced," "felony offense," "primary offense," and "term" "make clear that early parole eligibility

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must be assessed based on the conviction for which an inmate is now serving a state prison sentence (the current offense), rather than prior criminal history." ( Gadlin, supra , 31 Cal.App.5th at p. 789, 243 Cal.Rptr.3d 331 ; see also In re Schuster (2019) 42 Cal.App.5th 943, 256 Cal.Rptr.3d 158, review granted Feb. 19, 2020, S260024 [agreeing with Gadlin ].) The Third District Court of Appeal in Alliance also rejected the CDCR's restrictive view of section 32 's broad mandate. "Permitting the Department to restrict the number of eligible inmates due to perceived danger to public safety does not broadly construe the stated goals of the proposition. For example, restricting the number of inmates eligible for early parole consideration would not save money by reducing wasteful spending on prisons. Rather, it would require continued spending to house nonviolent sex offenders otherwise eligible for parole. The Department's regulation would also not help prevent federal courts from indiscriminately releasing prisoners due to state prisons' overcrowding; the Department's decision to render ineligible otherwise eligible inmates impedes the goal of reducing the prison population." ( Alliance, supra , 45 Cal.App.5th at pp. 234-235, 258 Cal.Rptr.3d 498.)

We conclude that section 32 's broad mandate is inconsistent with the CDCR's restrictive regulation barring early parole consideration for those with prior convictions for sex offenses that require sex offender registration and that the CDCR could not have reasonably concluded that its restrictive regulation was "in furtherance" of a broad mandate that the voters had expressly required to be liberally construed. Consequently, the superior court correctly concluded that Chavez was entitled to early parole consideration under section 32.

III. DISPOSITION

The order is affirmed.

WE CONCUR:

PREMO, Acting P.J.

BAMATTRE-MANOUKIAN, J.