Edelman v. California/Opinion of the Court

Petitioner stands convicted under § 647(5) of the Penal Code of California, which provides in relevant part that 'Every * *  * dissolute person *  *  * Is a vagrant, and is punishable by a fine of not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500), or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.' The conviction was affirmed by the Appellate Department of the Los Angeles County Superior Court in an order which recited that the appeal had been submitted without argument. A motion to recall the remittitur and vacate the judgment of the appellate court was denied without opinion after a full hearing before three judges. We granted certiorari because of serious constitutional questions raised as to the validity of the vagrancy statute and its application to the petitioner. 343 U.S. 955, 72 S.Ct. 1054. However, on oral argument, doubts arose as to whether the federal questions were properly presented by the record. Accordingly, it is necessary at the outset to determine whether we have jurisdiction in this case.

Petitioner contends, first, that his conviction violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because the vagrancy statute is vague, indefinite and uncertain. The record indicates that this defense was not raised on trial but was presented for the first time as the fifth of petitioner's grounds of appeal, stated as follows: '5. Vagrancy statute is unconstitutional because vague and indefinite.'

It is clear that this Court is without power to decide whether constitutional rights have been violated when the federal questions are not seasonably raised in accordance with the requirements of state law. Hulbert v. City of Chicago, 1906, 202 U.S. 275, 26 S.Ct. 617, 50 L.Ed. 1026; Mutual Life Ins. Co. v. McGrew, 1903, 188 U.S. 291, 308, 23 S.Ct. 375, 378, 47 L.Ed. 480. Noncompliance with such local law can thus be an adequate state ground for a decision below. Aside from state law regarding the scope of review in cases such as this one, we note that California permits affirmance in criminal cases where the appellant fails to appear. It follows that the question whether the vagrancy statute is invalid under the Fourteenth Amendment is not properly before us.

The argument that petitioner's rights under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment were infringed by discriminatory law enforcement merits only brief comment. The evidence adduced on trial showed at most that the vagrancy statute is not used by the Los Angeles authorities in all of the cases in which it might be applicable. Doubtless recognizing the necessity of showing systematic or intentional discrimination, petitioner made an offer of proof phrased as follows, 'I want to show by the police records that there are thousands and thousands of individuals in this city that are walking around that have committed many more offenses than the defendant that have never been charged with vagrancy.' This offer was made in connection with a subpoena addressed to the local police records section. On motion of the city attorney the subpoena was quashed on the ground that the accompanying affidavit did not comply with the requirements of state law. Since California law determined this action, there is no federal question preserved for review in this aspect of the case. Hedgebeth v. State of North Carolina, 1948, 334 U.S. 806, 68 S.Ct. 1185, 92 L.Ed. 1739.

Petitioner urges, finally, that he was deprived of notice and opportunity to have a hearing in the appellate court. A careful study of the record discloses these facts: On December 13, 1949, one day after sentence was imposed, the attorney who represented petitioner during the nine-day trial in Los Angeles Municipal Court filed written notice of appeal in that court. An application for substitution of attorneys was there filed and granted on February 7, 1950. The substituted attorney thereafter appeared in the trial court at hearings on the settlement of the statement on appeal. Preparation of that statement was a lengthy process, not concluded until June 18, 1951, when it was allowed and settled in final form by the trial judge.

After the Appellate Department affirmed the conviction, petitioner filed a motion to 'Recall the Remittitur and to Vacate the Judgment' of the Appellate Department on the ground that its judgment 'was occasion(ed) by the inadvertence, and mistake of fact of the defendant and of the clerk of the above entitled court, and on the incomplete presentation of all the facts and law by the defendant * *  * .' In a supporting affidavit, petitioner's original attorney stated that he received notice that the appeal had been set for argument; that he then went to the office of the Appellate Department clerk and advised the person attending the desk that the substituted attorney was the proper person to notify, and was assured that petitioner's then counsel would be notified of the date of the hearing. Substituted counsel filed an affidavit stating that he had not received such notice.

The motion to recall the remittitur and vacate the judgment of the Appellate Department asserted no deprivation of any federal constitutional right. Further, the motion sought what, under California law, is an extraordinary remedy, not available where the court had 'jurisdiction to render the judgment complained of and it does not affirmatively appear that it was the result of fraud, imposition or misapprehension of facts'. People v. Stone, 1949, 93 Cal.App.2d 858, 861, 210 P.2d 78, 80, and cases there cited; 23 Calif.L.Rev. 354. Respondent has also suggested that state habeas corpus was available to petitioner to test the constitutionality of his restraint. This is borne out by In re Bell, 1942, 19 Cal.2d 488, 122 P.2d 22, in which the state supreme court decided that California habeas corpus may be used to test the constitutionality of a statute under which the applicant has been convicted. The writ is, in fact, there stated to be the only remedy available for this purpose where the applicant has exhausted his remedy by appeal. Under California law, habeas corpus can also be used to raise other constitutional objections to criminal proceedings, such as deprivation of right to counsel. In re Bell, supra, 19 Cal.2d at page 501, 122 P.2d 22. The denial of petitioner's motion, therefore, rested on an adequate state ground, his choice of the wrong remedy under local law. Woods v. Nierstheimer, 1946, 328 U.S. 211, 214, 66 S.Ct. 996, 998, 90 L.Ed. 1177. This is not a case in which there is serious doubt about the nature of the ground on which the decision below rested. Cf. State Tax Commission v. Van Cott, 1939, 306 U.S. 511, 59 S.Ct. 605, 83 L.Ed. 950; State of Minnesota v. National Tea Co., 1940, 309 U.S. 551, 60 S.Ct. 676, 84 L.Ed. 920; Herb v. Pitcairn, 1945, 324 U.S. 117, 65 S.Ct. 459, 89 L.Ed. 789. We are thus without power to decide petitioner's claims on the merits, whatever may be their appeal. The writ was improvidently granted and must be dismissed. Stembridge v. State of Georgia, 1952, 343 U.S. 541, 72 S.Ct. 834. It is so ordered.

Writ dismissed.