People v. Smith

INTRODUCTION

Defendant appeals from a postjudgment order of the Sonoma County Superior Court refusing to dismiss defendant’s four convictions for various sex offenses following his successful completion of probation. (Pen. Code, §§ 1203.4, 1237, subd. (b).) This appeal raises three questions: (1) does section 1203.4, subdivision (b) prohibit dismissal of convictions for violations of sections 288a, subdivision (b)(2) and 289, subdivision (i); (2) is the 2000 amendment to subdivision (b) of section 1203.4, prohibiting dismissal of convictions for felony violations of section 261.5, subdivision (d), retroactive, or does it have a retrospective effect that impairs a substantive vested right to dismissal which had already accrued upon successful completion of probation in 1999; and (3) is defendant entitled to dismissal of his conviction for violating section 288, subdivision (c) on the theory that section 1203.4 relief was an implicit term of his plea bargain, which must be honored, despite the 1997 amendment to subdivision (b) of section 1203.4 prohibiting dismissal of section 288 convictions? We find section 1203.4, subdivision (b) does not prohibit dismissal of…