P. v. Gaitan 10/4/04 CA1/2

State: California

Court: 1st District Court of Appeal 1st District Court of Appeal

Docket No: A102560

Case Date: 12/15/2004

Preview:Filed 10/4/04 P. v. Gaitan CA1/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION TWO THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. ELIAS A. GAITAN, Defendant and Appellant. In re ELIAS A. GAITAN, on Habeas Corpus. A102560 (Sonoma County Super. Ct. Nos. SCR32021, SCR32048)

A104091

Elias A. Gaitan appeals from convictions entered upon his pleas of no contest to one count of possession of a forged check and one count of possession of methamphetamine. He challenges the trial court's refusal to allow him the opportunity to withdraw his pleas after the court withdrew its approval of a plea agreement and its imposition of a more severe sentence than was called for in the plea agreement. He further contends the trial court erred in refusing to order specific performance of the plea agreement because there was insufficient evidence to support the court's finding that he failed to comply with the agreement. In a related petition for habeas corpus, appellant1 claims he received ineffective assistance of counsel in that his attorney did not advise him that he had a right to withdraw his pleas.

For convenience, we will continue to refer to "appellant" rather than "petitioner" when discussing the petition. 1

1

STATEMENT OF THE CASE Appellant was charged by information filed on March 25, 2002, in Sonoma County Superior Court (No. SCR-32021), with one count of possession of a forged bank check (Pen. Code,

Download P. v. Gaitan 10/4/04 CA1/2.pdf