Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Can Plea bargain be fixed?

Time for appeal is passed, unless you could obtain consent for late filing -- highly unlikely and probably a waste of money.

Time for motion for reconsideration/set aside plea is passed -- ditto on late filing, but you could try.

Motion to amend/reduce sentencing is possible. Contact me if interested in doing so, to discuss facts and fees.

Re: Can Plea bargain be fixed?

If the judgment was entered recently he may still have time to bring a motion to withdraw the plea and/or to get the judge to sign a certificate of probable cause (CPC). A CPC would enable him to appeal the plea bargain on the ground that he was not adequately informed of what he was accepting.

If neither of these procedures is available, he can bring a petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

An appeal will take a long time and a habeas proceeding may drag on for a while as well, so he should move to withdraw the plea if he can. Keep in mind that, even if there is still time to make such a motion, the court may deny it. Also, your husband will remain in his current confinement while the court decides what to do.

You should also keep in mind that, if your husband succeeds by any of these procedures, his case will be restored to where it was before he agreed to the plea bargain; in other words, the charges which were dismissed will be reinstated and he will be headed toward trial. The prosecutor will probably not be willing to make a comparable deal the second time around, and if your husband is convicted at trial his sentence will likely be longer than the one he has now, and will also probably be at least equally restrictive.