In re Ronald E

In In re Ronald E. (1977) 19 Cal.3d 315, the Supreme Court held that the failure to diligently seek appellate review from a judgment, absent special circumstances for such failure, precludes habeas corpus relief from the judgment. In that case, a juvenile sought habeas corpus relief from the first of several orders committing him to the California Youth Authority. He contended he had admitted allegations in the first petition filed against him without having been advised of Boykin-Tahl rights. He had not sought direct review of the commitment order. The court stated: "The People concede that at the initial jurisdictional hearing in 1971 there was no compliance with Boykin-Tahl requirements. We are of the view, however, that petitioner is no longer entitled to raise on petition for the writ of habeas corpus the issue of improprieties in proceedings resulting in detention which he has accepted without timely challenge. We can only assume that petitioner was not unduly distressed by detentions in juvenile hall, in foster homes and in parental custody and that he elected to waive any constitutional defect in such detentions. Petitioner, moreover, fails to explain his neglect to challenge promptly the validity of any of such commitments, the last of which was ordered in 1973 approximately four years after Boykin. He does not assert, for instance, that his failure to challenge such claimed improprieties was predicated on a lack of knowledge of his constitutional rights at a time when he might have made a timely challenge. Petitioner cannot now resort to habeas corpus proceedings as a substitute for his failure to take expeditious appeals, absent special circumstances constituting an excuse for such failure. ( In re Walker (1974) 10 Cal.3d 764, 773 . . . .) In view of such lack of diligence on petitioner's part we conclude that he has waived the constitutional defects he now claims in the initial wardship proceedings and proceedings pursuant to the first and second supplemental petitions. ( In re Swain (1949) 34 Cal.2d 300, 304 . . . .)" ( In re Ronald E., supra, 19 Cal.3d at pp. 321-322.)