Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

If you have entered a plea of no contest then the only way you can withdraw the plea is if the judge indicates that he or she is unwilling to go through with the sentence or if you entered the plea unknowingly, unintelligent or involuntary. Your reference to duress could qualify as involuntary.

If by duress you mean that the public defender pressured you to take the deal or they said that if you do not accept this deal the punishment could become more severe, that does not qualify. The kind of situation that would qualify would be if someone was at your house with a gun aimed at your family and someone else was outside the courtroom and they told you that they would shoot your family member if you did not enter a certain plea.

As far as the second part of your question I am not sure if I completely understand however it sounds like some additional research would be required to answer that portion of your question.