People v. Allen CA1/1

DISCUSSION

Making an amalgam of forfeiture and estoppel arguments, the Attorney General maintains defendant has waited too long to challenge the validity of her plea. We agree, concluding defendant is estopped

2 from seeking to withdraw her plea and overturning the negotiated disposition to which she agreed nearly three decades ago. Indeed, one of the cases defendant includes in her opening brief— acknowledging that “[i]n the absence of exceptional circumstances, a party has no right to attack a voidable judgment long after it is final” (People v. Ramirez (2008) 159 Cal.App.4th 1412 (Ramirez))—illustrates why estoppel should bar her belated attack on her plea. In Ramirez, the defendant entered into a plea agreement to resolve numerous pending charges. In accordance therewith, the trial court imposed, but suspended execution of, a midterm, four-year sentence and placed him on probation. (Ramirez, supra, 159 Cal.App.4th at p. 1418.) After violating probation a second time, the defendant entered into a second negotiated disposition to resolve the probation matter. This disposition included increasing the suspended sentence to the upper term of five years. (Id. at pp. 1419– 1420.)…