California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Reynolds, 186 Cal.App.3d 1385, 223 Cal.Rptr. 691 (Cal. App. 1986):
On the court trial with respect to the prior serious felony convictions, the People introduced and the court considered several items of documentary evidence including the December 5, 1977, complaint charging defendant with a violation of section 459 of the Penal Code and the reporter's transcript of the proceedings in which defendant pleaded guilty on Friday, December 16, 1977, the time set for preliminary hearing. Defendant mistakenly relies on People v. Jackson (1985) 37 Cal.3d 826, 210 Cal.Rptr. 623, 694 P.2d 736, for the proposition that these documents, and particularly the transcript of the plea, are "extrinsic" to the record of conviction and, as such, cannot be used to prove the residential nature of the burglary. Not so. The relevant issue in Jackson was not whether pleadings and admissions are part of a record of conviction, which was assumed, but to what extent the language in those documents can be used to establish the nature of the underlying offense. As the court said in Jackson: "The record of a [pre-Proposition 8] conviction for second degree burglary would not prove entry into a residence, even if the pleadings included superfluous allegations to that effect." (Id., at p. 836, 210 Cal.Rptr. 623, 694 P.2d 736, emphasis added.)
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