People v. Ayala CA6

I. BACKGROUND

The Santa Cruz County District Attorney charged Ayala with evading a police officer with willful and wanton disregard (§ 2800.2, subd. (a)), driving with a suspended license (§ 14601.1, subd. (a)), and reckless driving (§ 23103, subd. (a)). The information

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Vehicle Code.

1 further alleged that Ayala was out on bail at the time of the charged offenses. (Pen. Code, § 12022.1, subd. (b).) Ayala entered an open plea after the court indicated a “paper[-]commitment” sentence of 16 months in prison and agreed to release him on “intensive supervised OR” subject to GPS-monitored house arrest. The district attorney struck the out-on-bail enhancement at the time of the plea.2 Before sentencing, Ayala informed the trial court that he wished to withdraw his plea due to a purported lack of understanding of the collateral consequences. Because his trial counsel saw no basis to withdraw the plea, the court appointed separate counsel for the limited purpose of evaluating the plea. But in an in camera proceeding under People v. Marsden (1970) 2 Cal.3d 118 (Marsden), the court separately denied Ayala’s motion to relieve his trial…