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Name: People v. Sanders
Case #: C058341
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 02/03/2009
Summary

Waiver of right to return hearing after exclusion from CRC was valid. Sanders was convicted of a domestic violence offense and was committed to the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC). On appeal, he contended that the waiver he signed pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 3053, waiving his right to be present at a hearing to impose sentence in the event he was rejected from CRC, was unauthorized and must be stricken. He argued that the “shall” language in the statute requires a mandatory return hearing which cannot be waived. The appellate court rejected the argument, finding that although the language is mandatory, there is no authority for the proposition that the requirement cannot be waived. Further, appellant sought a return hearing in order to renegotiate his previously suspended sentence. Appellant was fully informed on the record that the court would not modify the sentence should he be excluded from CRC. The claim was also premature, as appellant had not yet been excluded from CRC.