Yesterday at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Courthouse in Downtown Los Angeles attorney Steve Escovar successfully litigated three post-convictions motions on behalf of three different clients!
In the first matter, our client had pled no contest in 2000 to a felony violation of Health and Safety Code section 11352(a). According to the transcript of our client’s plea, at the time of his plea he was advised that the plea “will” cause his deportation, denial of naturalization, denial of citizenship, and denial of reentry into this country. However, we argued in our motion to vacate the conviction pursuant to Penal Code section 1473.7 that our client should have been advised that the immigration consequences of his plea were permanent and mandatory. The prosecution submitted on our motion and attorney Steve Escovar invited the court to dismiss the charge pursuant to Penal Code section 1385, which the court granted.
In the next matter, before a different judge, we filed a Penal Code section 1016.5 motion on behalf of a different client that had pled to a Health and Safety Code section 11352(a) offense on May 29, 1990. According to the documents retained in the court file, there was only a record that our client was advised of the “possible effect of plea on any alien/citizenship/probation/parole status.” However, in our motion to withdraw the plea and vacate the conviction pursuant to Penal Code section 1016.5, we argued that this purported advisement fails to satisfy the requirements of Penal Code section 1016.5 as a matter of law pursuant to People v. Dubon (2001) 90 Cal. App. 4th 944, 955. Further the court reporter notes had been destroyed and, therefore, we were unable to obtain a transcript of the plea. We argued 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advisements required by Penal Code section 1016.5 were administered at the time of the plea, requiring the plea to be withdrawn. The prosecution on this matter also submitted on our motion and announced unable to proceed pursuant to Penal Code section 1382, thereby dismissing the case.
For the final client, attorney Steve Escovar successfully litigated a motion to dismiss a case pursuant to Penal Code section 1203.4a for a client convicted of two misdemeanor Los Angeles Municipal Code violations relating to properties that he previously owned and leased to tenants.
We are proud to have successfully represented three different clients on post-conviction matters!
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