California v. Chavez
Annotate this CaseDefendant Lorenzo Chavez plead no contest to charges that he offered to sell a controlled substance and then failed to appear. The trial court suspended imposition of sentence and placed defendant on probation for four years. After defendant successfully completed his probation in 2009, he filed a motion pursuant to Penal Code section 1385, asking the trial court to dismiss the action in the interests of justice based on ineffective assistance of counsel and asserted legal errors. The trial court concluded that because the motion was brought pursuant to section 1385 rather than section 1203.4, it did not have authority after probation ended to grant the requested relief. The State argued the denial was not an appealable order. Defendant contended the order was appealable and the trial court erred in ruling that it lacked authority to dismiss under section 1385. The Court of Appeals concluded the order was appealable and the trial court did not err. "Section 1203.4 is the exclusive method for a trial court to dismiss the conviction of a defendant who has successfully completed probation."
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