People v. Meyers CA4/1

Filed 12/18/25 P. v. Meyers CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

THE PEOPLE, D085404

Plaintiff and Respondent,

v. (Super. Ct. No. SCE266416)

GERALDINE MEYERS,

Defendant and Appellant.

APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Frank L. Birchak, Judge. Affirmed as modified. Monica McMillan, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Steve Oetting and Joshua Trinh, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

MEMORANDUM OPINION Geraldine Meyers appeals from an order denying “with prejudice” her

petition to expunge a 2008 murder conviction under Penal Code1 section 1203.41 after she was released from prison and subsequently discharged from parole. She does not argue the trial court committed error in denying the petition but asserts that it erred by doing so with prejudice. We agree. In February 2008, a jury convicted Meyers of second-degree murder (§ 187, subd. (a)) with personal discharge of a firearm (§ 12022.53, subd. (d)). The court sentenced her to 40 years to life. This court affirmed the judgment on appeal. (People v. Meyers (March 10, 2009, D052850) [nonpub. opn.].) In 2018, the Governor commuted her sentence to 15 years to life. She was released on parole in 2020 and discharged from parole in 2021. In September 2024, Meyers filed a petition for dismissal of her murder conviction under section 1203.41, subdivision (a), which now allows a court “in its discretion and in the interest of justice” to expunge a felony conviction if two years have elapsed since the defendant’s completion of her prison sentence and she is no longer on parole. In November 2024, the court denied the section 1203.41 petition “with prejudice.” As noted, Meyers contends the trial court erred by denying her expungement petition with prejudice. In response, the People’s only argument is that the issue is not ripe for appellate review because Meyers has not yet tried to file another section 1203.41 petition. We disagree. The ripeness requirement prevents courts from issuing purely advisory opinions or considering a hypothetical state of facts to give general guidance rather than resolve a specific legal dispute. (People v. Garcia (2018) 30 Cal.App.5th 316, 328.) We are not presented with such a situation. The trial court has