People v. Williams CA3

Filed 7/8/21 P. v. Williams CA3 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published,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 This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.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 THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT (Shasta) ----

THE PEOPLE, C090169

Plaintiff and Respondent, (Super. Ct. No. 15F6855)

v.

NICKOLAS EVERETT WILLIAMS,

Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Nickolas Everett Williams pled no contest to discharging a firearm with gross negligence and felony assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury. The plea agreement included three years’ probation and permitted him to withdraw his plea as to the firearm count and seek dismissal of that count if he complied with probation without “violation” during his first 18 months of probation. Nearly three years into probation, the court found defendant violated probation and sentenced him on the two underlying crimes to three years in prison. Defendant contends on appeal that the sentence imposed exceeds the plea agreement because the court should have dismissed the discharging a firearm count as there were no probation violations “sustained or

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pending” during the first 18 months of probation. For reasons explained below, we shall affirm. I. BACKGROUND A. Underlying Convictions Defendant had an escalating verbal argument with his mother, whom he lived with, before threatening to kill her with a shotgun; he eventually fired the shotgun in the house. Police arrived and had to use chemical agents to remove defendant from the house to arrest him. Defendant was charged with felony making criminal threats (Pen. Code, § 422— count 1),1 with the enhancement he used a deadly weapon in its commission (§ 12022, subd. (b)); felony discharging a firearm with gross negligence (§ 246.3—count 2); misdemeanor resisting a peace officer (§ 148, subd. (a)(1)—count 3); and felony assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury (§ 245, subd. (a)(4)—count 4). On March 14, 2016, defendant pled no contest to counts 2 and 4. The handwritten portion of the plea agreement form stated the agreed disposition as: “36 mos [probation] at initial sentencing, w 90 days adult work program. Should [defendant] comply w/ probation without violation for 18 mos, [defendant] may withdraw his plea to Ct. 2 and have that charge[] dismissed.” At the change of plea hearing, the court confirmed defendant’s understanding of the plea, phrasing the disposition as: “In 18 months should you have no violations of probation either sustained or pending, no other violations of law, you may withdraw your plea to Count 2 and have that charge dismissed. . . . Does that sound like the agreement you reached?” Defendant responded, “Yes.” Counts 1 and 3 were dismissed with Harvey waivers.2