California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Middleton, 52 Cal.App.4th 19, 60 Cal.Rptr.2d 366 (Cal. App. 1997):
Defendant contends the court denied him his due process rights by refusing to continue the sentencing hearing when defense counsel moved for a continuance based on receiving the probation report the day of sentencing. Defense counsel did not receive the report until the day of the sentencing hearing, but the record is unclear whether the probation report was available in the court file five days prior to the sentencing hearing. The court in People v. Leffel (1987) 196 Cal.App.3d 1310, 1318-1319, 242 Cal.Rptr. 456 (Leffel ), held the trial court's failure to continue a hearing when defendant did not receive the probation report within the statutory period mandated by section 1203, subdivision (b), made the sentencing hearing fundamentally unfair.
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