Airport Court, H & S § 11350 DEJ in 2009, 1203.43, 17(b)(3)

In September 2009, our client was arrested by the El Segundo Police Department for allegedly violating Health & Safety Code §§ 11350(a) and 11550(a), as well as Vehicle Code §§ 23152(a) and 23152(b). At the time, our client was 22 years old.

Our client’s attorney, a well-known and respected local attorney, recommended that the client plead no contest to Health & Safety Code § 11350(a), a felony, and Vehicle Code § 23152(a), a misdemeanor. Our client agreed and did so at the Airport Courthouse.

The judge then placed our client on three years of a delayed entry of plea (DEJ) program on the Health & Safety Code § 11350(a) charge, but he was convicted of violating Vehicle Code § 23152(a).

The terms of DEJ for our client on the Health & Safety Code § 11350(a) charge were that our client enroll in and complete a drug treatment program through his probation officer. He also was ordered to pay a $150 court fee. He was not convicted of § 11350(a).

The terms of the plea bargain for Vehicle Code § 23152(a) charge were that our client was placed on three years of summary (informal) probation on the following terms and conditions: payment of a court fine of $390, plus penalties and assessments (for a total of $1,731); serve two days in county jail (les credit for two days); and enroll in and complete the AB 541 program.

Our client complied with and completed all terms and conditions of formal diversion for the 11350(a) charge and informal probation for the 23152(a) charge. Probation on the 23152(a) charge and the DEJ arrangement ended in 2012. In 2012, the client’s no contest plea to the 11350 charge was withdrawn and the case dismissed.Fast forward to the year 2023 and the client calls Greg Hill & Associates. He talks with Greg Hill and explains that he has graduated from medical school, but had found out that his no contest plea to the Health & Safety Code § 11350(a) charge, as a felony, would bar him from being licensed by the California Medical Board as a medical doctor in California, as it shows he illegally possessed a controlled substance.

Due to nuances in the Business & Professions Code regarding licensing, the Medical Board would regard the case as resulting in a conviction due to his no contest plea even though he in fact was never convicted.

The client explained that he was now married and the father of two girls, ages eight and one. He was currently unemployed and living in a very precarious financial situation. He had minimal savings for himself after medical school and feared he would not be able to continue to support his family and himself if he could not become licensed as a medical doctor due to his no contest plea to the controlled substance charge 14 years earlier.

Greg then explained how Penal Code § 1203.43 had become the law since his conviction, permitting him to withdraw his plea, enter a new not guilty plea and allowing a court to dismiss the case, which would salvage his medical career.

The client then retained Greg Hill & Associates to file the petition for relief under Penal Code § 1203.43. In addition, Greg requested that the judge reduce the 11350 charge to a misdemeanor under Penal Code § 17(b)(3) because in 2017, under Senate Bill 811, § 11350 is no longer a “straight felony.” It is now a misdemeanor unless one has a prior strike conviction or is a registered sex offender. Our client was neither a registered sex offender nor a prior felon with a conviction for a strike.

Our office then filed the petition, requesting relief both under §§ 1203.43 and 17(b)(3), at the Airport Courthouse.

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