Cuevas

Negotiated plea agreements may include a sentence “lid,” which

constrains the maximum sentence a trial court may impose but is less than the maximum exposure the defendant would otherwise face absent the agreed-upon lid. In People v. Shelton (2006) 37 Cal.4th 759, 763 [ 37 Cal.Rptr.3d 354 , 125 P.3d 290 ] (Shelton), we held that when a plea agreement specifies a sentence lid, “a challenge to the trial court’s authority to impose the lid sentence is a challenge to the validity of the plea requiring a certificate of probable cause.” Absent such certificate, a defendant may not later complain that the imposed sentence lid violated Penal Code section 654’s proscription against multiple punishment, which in substance is a challenge to the plea’s validity. (Shelton, supra, 37 Cal.4th at p. 769 .)

In this case, defendant and the prosecution negotiated a plea by which certain charges would be dismissed or reduced, and defendant agreed that the maximum possible sentence for the remaining charges would be 37 years eight months. After the trial court sentenced him to a term within that maximum, defendant attempted to raise a section 654 challenge to the sentence in the Court of…