Knauer

[Opinion certified for partial publication. [*] ]

OPINION

RACANELLI, P.J.

Pursuant to a plea bargain, defendant pled guilty in the municipal court to maintaining a place for the sale of heroin; an additional charge of sale of heroin was dismissed. Defendant was thereafter sentenced by the superior court to prison for the middle term of two years.

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(1a) Finally, defendant argues Mr. Jaycox neglected to preserve his appeal by failing to file a timely notice of appeal and to obtain a certificate of probable cause.

Defendant was sentenced on September 21, 1987, and the written judgment and abstract of judgment were signed and filed the next day. (2) (See fn. 2.) The notice of appeal prepared and signed by his attorney was not filed until November 23, 1987, three days beyond the prescribed sixty-day period. [2]

(1b) Accordingly, we grant the petition for habeas corpus only insofar as it seeks to perfect a timely notice of appeal. Because defendant justifiably relied on his attorney to initiate the filing of the notice of appeal, we apply the doctrine of constructive filing and deem the notice of appeal timely filed. ( In…