People v. Ruster

In People v. Ruster (1974) 40 Cal.App.3d 865, the defendant sent a demand notice to his probation officer in connection with a probation revocation and sentencing proceeding. The probation officer failed to notify the district attorney until after the 90 days had expired. The Court of Appeal rejected defendant's contention that the trial court had lost jurisdiction to impose sentence upon him. In denying defendant relief the court emphasized that as a matter of public policy, as well as statutory construction, the defendant has the responsibility of serving the section 1381 notice upon the district attorney. The court stated, "Fundamental precepts of fairness dictate that before defendant's standing to invoke such a drastic sanction is recognized he must first demonstrate literal compliance with the remedial provision by which he seeks to benefit. Any other rule would encourage resort to half-hearted, disingenuous gestures toward compliance calculated at most to start the 90-day period running and contrived in fact to achieve official default." ( Id. at p. 873.)