How has the probation officer treated the responses of a probation officer to a defendant's references?

The persons whose names were given as references by the defendant did not have their responses included as exhibits in the probation officer's report itself, but the letters that did come in prior to sentencing were forwarded to the judge, through the clerk's office, or were in the process of being forwarded and were referred to by the probation officer in oral testimony prior to the pronouncement of the sentence. This is an acceptable procedure (People v. Valdivia, 182 Cal.App.2d 145, 5 Cal.Rptr. 832), and the probation officer indicated that the contents of the late reports would not have changed his opinion. Furthermore, appellant could have presented evidence in mitigation of the sentence if he felt that the report was inadequate or misleading. (Pen.Code 1204; People v. Valdivia, supra.) Appellant chose not to do this. And counsel for the People and appellant stipulated that the persons whose names have been given by the defendant to the probation officer for a solicitation of their viewpoint would testify that defendant was a man of good character and not known to be violent.

Page 263