People v. Torres CA4/3

Filed 12/20/24 P. v. Torres CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

THE PEOPLE,

Plaintiff and Respondent, G064118, G064120

v. (Super. Ct. Nos. FVI00984 & FVI01750) ROBERTO TORRES, OPINION Defendant and Appellant.

Appeal from postjudgment orders of the Superior Court of San Bernardino County, Charlie Hill, Judge. Affirmed. Kirstin M. Ault, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General, Daniel Rogers and Adrian R. Contreras, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Roberto Torres appeals from the trial court’s postjudgment orders 1 denying two motions to vacate pursuant to Penal Code section 1473.7. Torres has not demonstrated prejudicial error, and we affirm the orders. FACTS Three decades ago, Torres was charged with crimes through two separate criminal complaints. First, he was charged in October 1993 with possession of methamphetamine and marijuana (the 1993 case). Then he was charged in June 1994 with possession of rock cocaine (the 1994 case). Later in June 1994, Torres entered a plea agreement in the 1993 case to plead guilty to one felony violation of Health and Safety Code section 11377, subdivision (a), for possessing a controlled substance (the possession conviction). The trial court accepted his plea and dismissed the remaining charge in the 1993 case as well as the charge in the 1994 case. The court sentenced Torres to serve 121 days in jail and submit to formal probation for three years. In 2016, Assembly Bill No. 813 enacted section 1473.7 to provide a mechanism for vacating certain convictions and sentences. (Stats. 2016, ch. 739, §1.) Relevant here, the statute allows a conviction or sentence to be vacated based on the defendant’s “[in]ability to meaningfully understand, defend against, or knowingly accept the actual or potential adverse immigration consequences of a conviction or sentence.” (§ 1473.7, subd. (a)(1); see Stats. 2021, ch. 420, § 1 [Assembly Bill No. 1259 expanding scope of § 1473.7 to any qualifying “conviction or sentence” from “plea of guilty or nolo contendere”].)