Recently, in Orange County, attorney Steve Escovar successfully litigated a Penal Code section 1016.5 Motion to withdraw our client’s misdemeanor convictions from 1997 for violations of Penal Code section 470, “Forgery,” and Penal Code section 459A, “Possession of a Bad Check/Money Order.”
Prior to filing the motion, our office had requested a copy of the complete docket and transcript of the plea for the case. However, the case file had been destroyed and we were unable to obtain a transcript of the plea proceedings given that we could not identify the name of the court reporter.
We filed a motion to withdraw our client’s pleas pursuant to Penal Code section 1016.5 arguing that there was no evidence in the court file to establish that the complete and accurate immigration advisements required by Penal Code section 1016.5 were administered at the time of our client’s plea. We further argued that our client was prejudiced by this failure given that he is facing deportation, denial of naturalization, and exclusion from admission to the United States as a result of pleading to the Penal Code section 470 and Section 459A offenses.
At the hearing on the motion, the court granted our motion to withdraw the charges and completed dismissed the underlying charges pursuant to Penal Code section 1385, in the interests of justice.
This is a great result for our client that will now remove the permanent and mandatory immigration consequences that he was subjected to as a result of his prior pleas to these misdemeanor offenses!
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