Our client recently hired our office to represent him on several of his criminal matters and, after reviewing his Department of Justice California Criminal History, we discovered that he had outstanding warrants in multiple cases and even had a conviction that was causing him adverse immigration consequences.
For one of his matters with an outstanding warrant, we were able to set the matter for a bench warrant recall hearing. Our client had originally been charged in 1987 with a felony violation of Health and Safety Code section 11350(a), “Possession of a Controlled Substance” offense. Our client appeared at his initial arraignment but failed to appear at a later court appearance and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. Previously, our office was able to appear on his behalf, request the matter be reduced to a misdemeanor pursuant to Penal Code section 1170.18, “Proposition 47," which now statutorily enumerates this offense as a misdemeanor as opposed to a felony, and we were able to recall the bench warrant.
After providing the court with our client’s lack of criminal history since 1990 and the fact that the case was over thirty-three (33) years old, the case was completely dismissed pursuant to Penal Code section 1385, “In the Interests of Justice.” Given the dismissal, our client wanted this matter completely removed from his criminal history record. Thus, we filed a motion to seal his record of arrest pursuant to Penal Code section 851.91, which the court granted! Now our client can lawfully state that this arrest and case did not occur!
On another matter, our client had originally pled to a Health and Safety Code section 11352 offense in 1986. This controlled substance conviction was causing our client immigration prejudice so he sought post-conviction relief from our office. We were able to file a Penal Code section 1016.5 motion to withdraw the plea, which was granted. We were also able to negotiate for a complete dismissal of the charges pursuant to Penal Code section 1382, “Unable to Proceed.” We then filed a petition to seal his record of arrest pursuant to Penal Code section 851.91, which was granted today! Our client will also be able to lawfully state that this arrest and conviction did not occur!
These are amazing results for our client that will improve his criminal history record!
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