Mauch

— The district attorney challenges the trial court’s order reducing Jeffrey Garrett Mauch’s conviction, following a guilty plea, for felony cultivation of marijuana (Health & Saf. Code, § 11358) to a misdemeanor. We agree the trial court lacked authority to reduce the offense from a felony to a misdemeanor, and we therefore vacate defendant’s plea and direct the trial court to reinstate the charge as a felony.

I

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Acting on an anonymous tip, police investigators discovered 19 ounces of marijuana and smoking paraphernalia in Mauch’s home, plus a large marijuana plant, nutrients, fertilizers, hydroponic cultivation equipment, and marijuana cultivation textbooks. The prosecutor charged Mauch and his stepson, Shawn Thorin, with marijuana possession, a misdemeanor (Health & Saf. Code, § 11364, subd. (c)), and marijuana cultivation, a felony. After Mauch and Thorin moved to exclude statements each had made to the police, the trial court severed their trials, proceeding first with Mauch’s.

The trial court empaneled a jury before the noon recess. Following informal discussions with the court during the recess, defendant agreed to plead guilty…