Supreme Court of California

A petition for writ of mandate challenging petitioner's conviction for the misdemeanor of willfully violating her written promise to appear, is denied, where: 1) the misdemeanor complaint was issued by a superior court clerk under the authority of Penal Code section 959.1(c), not by an executive branch officer with prosecutorial authority, and petitioner therefore contends that the complaint was void in light of California’s separation of powers and due process clauses; 2) section 959.1(c) does not expressly or by necessary implication permit the clerk to commence prosecutions without the prosecutor's approval, and the prosecutor may validate a complaint filed by a clerk by approving, authorizing, or concurring in it; 3) the prosecutorial agency has, through established practice, implicitly approved in advance the clerk's routine issuance of failure-to-appear complaints; and accordingly, 4) the complaint was valid and the prosecution timely commenced.

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/11/2014
• Published 08/11/2014

Judges

• WERDEGAR

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel