Waiving Right to Trial of Prior |
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In People v. Newman (1999) 21 Cal.4th 413, the Supreme Court
held that the trial court is not required to provide the Boykin-Tahl
advisements regarding the rights to jury trial, to confront witnesses, and to
refrain from self-incrimination, before permitting a defendant to admit a prior
conviction, where such prior conviction is but one element the prosecutor must
prove. In that case, the defendant, charged with being a felon in possession of
a weapon, stipulated that he was a felon. This was not tantamount to a guilty
plea, the Court held, because the prosecutor still had to prove that the
defendant was in possession of a weapon. No penal consequence flowed from the
stipulation by itself. This decision does not mean that the advisements are
unnecessary before a defendant admits a strike prior, for penal consequences do
flow from such an admission.
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Date last modified: 12/7/99.
