People v. Ali CA5

DISCUSSION

I. Law

In People v. Palmer (2013) 58 Cal.4th 110 (Palmer), a recent case filed after both parties submitted their briefs in this case, the Supreme Court explained:

“When a trial court takes a conditional plea of guilty or nolo contendere (hereafter no contest) to an accusatory pleading charging a felony, under Penal Code section 1192.5 it must ‘cause an inquiry to be made of the defendant to satisfy itself that the plea is freely and voluntarily made, and that there is a factual basis for the plea.’ ‘“The purpose of the requirement,”’ we have said, ‘“is to protect against the situation where the defendant, although he realizes what he has done, is not sufficiently skilled in law to recognize that his acts do not constitute the offense with which he is charged.”’ (People v. French (2008) 43 Cal.4th 36, 50.) In People v. Holmes (2004) 32 Cal.4th 432 (Holmes), we held the trial court can satisfy this requirement by inquiring of defense counsel regarding the factual basis of the plea, in which case, we said, ‘it should request that defense counsel stipulate to a particular document that provides an adequate factual basis, such as a complaint, police report,…