Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.412 · Division 5. Felony Sentencing Law
Reasons-agreement to punishment as an adequate reason and as abandonment of certain claims
Text — As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
(a) Defendant's agreement as reason
It is an adequate reason for a sentence or other disposition that the defendant, personally and by counsel, has expressed agreement that it be imposed and the prosecuting attorney has not expressed an objection to it. The agreement and lack of objection must be recited on the record. This section does not authorize a sentence that is not otherwise authorized by law.
(b) Agreement to sentence abandons section 654 claim
By agreeing to a specified term in prison or county jail under section 1170(h) personally and by counsel, a defendant who is sentenced to that term or a shorter one abandons any claim that a component of the sentence violates section 654's prohibition of double punishment, unless that claim is asserted at the time the agreement is recited on the record.
Notes and commentary — not rule text
History
(Subd (a) amended effective January 1, 2007; previously amended effective January 1, 2001.)
(Subd (b) amended effective January 1, 2017; previously amended effective January 1, 2007.)
Rule 4.412 amended effective January 1, 2017; adopted as rule 412 effective January 1, 1991; previously amended and renumbered effective January 1, 2001; previously amended effective January 1, 2007.
Advisory Committee Comment
Subdivision (a). This subdivision is intended to relieve the court of an obligation to give reasons if the sentence or other disposition is one that the defendant has accepted and to which the prosecutor expresses no objection. The judge may choose to give reasons for the sentence even though not obligated to do so.
Judges should also be aware that there may be statutory limitations on "plea bargaining" or on the entry of a guilty plea on the condition that no more than a particular sentence will be imposed. Such limitations appear, for example, in sections 1192.5 and 1192.7.
Subdivision (b). This subdivision is based on the fact that a defendant who, with the advice of counsel, expresses agreement to a specified term of imprisonment normally is acknowledging that the term is appropriate for his or her total course of conduct. This subdivision applies to both determinate and indeterminate terms.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As posted by the Judicial Council of California (read October 22, 2026)
- Official file
- https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/four/rule4_412
- Text hash
- sha256 d561c808c676bfbd7199da8df5859b1a9ba5839b9fe7b71c6e4c25aca771128f
- Composed by
- compose_crc.py 2026-10-22: the Judicial Council's rule pages read paragraph by paragraph; verify_crc.py's second reading of the Council's per-title PDFs finds every paragraph
Cited by 1 provision
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