People v. Perez: Prop 47 Does Not Require Failure to Appear Conviction on Underlying Case to be Reduced to a Misdemeanor

In People v. Perez (2015) __Cal.App.__, Case No. C078169, decided on July 31, 2015, the appellant was convicted of a  drug offense that was reduced to a misdemeanor under Proposition 47, but before this occurred, the appellant failed to appear (FTA) on the case while it was still a felony.  Appellant requested the trial court to reduce the FTA to a misdemeanor since the underlying charge was reduced, reasoning that if the drug charge is reduced to a misdemeanor "for all purposes" (Pen. Code, § 1170.18, subd. (k)), the FTA for failing to appear on that offense should also be reduced as well. But the trial court rejected this request.  

The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s ruling, explaining that when a defendant fails to appear on a felony charge, a charged FTA is a felony but if the underlying charge is a misdemeanor, so is the FTA.  The provisions of Proposition 47 do not address pendent or ancillary offenses, only the offenses listed in the statute. The criminal conduct proscribed by section 1320, subdivision (b), the FTA statute, is complete when a defendant willfully fails to appear in order to evade the process of the court. "The severity of an FTA is not lessened by the outcome of the underlying charge because section 1320 applies to persons charged with or convicted of crimes." Because the eventual disposition of a case does not alter the severity of the defendant's act at the time he willfully evaded the process of the court, the the reduction of the underlying drug charge to a misdemeanor does not affect defendant's felony FTA conviction. 

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