Opinion

People v. Mendez

  • 19 Cal. 4th 1084
  • 99 Daily Journal DAR 489
  • 81 Cal. Rptr. 2d 301
  • 969 P.2d 146
  • 99 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 437
Court
California Supreme Court
Filed
Jan 14, 1999
Status
Published
Author
Brown
On the bench
Brown, Mosk
Cited by
314 cases
Authority
More cited than 26.2%

California Court of Appeal “must order dismissal” of appeal of judgment 5 following guilty plea if defendant has not timely filed statement of certificate and obtained 6 certificate of probable cause

How later courts described this case

  • California Court of Appeal “must order dismissal” of appeal of judgment 5 following guilty plea if defendant has not timely filed statement of certificate and obtained 6 certificate of probable cause

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

BROWN, J., Concurring.

In the words of the inimitable Yogi Berra, "'It’s déjá vu all over again.'" 1 (Araiza et al., The Jurisprudence of Yogi Berra, supra, 46 Emory L.J. at p. 714.) Thousands upon thousands of more words, and still no closer to a workable standard. (See People v. Lloyd (1998) 17 Cal.4th 658, 667 [ 72 Cal.Rptr.2d 224 , 951 P.2d 1191 ] (dis. opn. of Brown, J.) [chronicling 15 previous attempts by this court to articulate the scope of the certificate of probable cause requirement].) Our jurisprudence “gives fresh meaning to the phrase, ‘[We’re] from the government and [we’re] here to help you.’ ” (U.S. v. Gomez (9th Cir. 1996) 92 F.3d 770, 772 .) It is as if we were trying to render the certificate of probable cause requirement, which is designed “to promote judicial economy” (People v. Panizzon (1996) 13 Cal.4th 68, 75 [ 51 Cal.Rptr.2d 851 , 913 P.2d 1061 ]), as incomprehensible, cumbersome, and inefficient as possible. For the reasons stated in my dissenting opinion in People v. Lloyd, supra, 17 Cal.4th at pages 667-669,1 concur in the result reached here.

Some have questioned the attribution of this statement. (See, e.g., Keyes, “Nice Guys Finish Seventh”—False Phrases, Spurious Sayings, and Familiar Misquotations (1992) p. 152.) “Yogi denies he said it. [Citation.] On the other hand, Yogi did say, ‘I really didn’t say everything I said,’ [citation], so go figure.” (Araiza et al., The Jurisprudence of Yogi Berra (1997) 46 Emory L.J. 697 , 714, fn. 100.)

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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