In re Gonzalez CA5

STATEMENT OF FACTS

According to documents submitted with the petition for writ of habeas corpus, petitioner was charged in 2012 in the Tulare County Superior Court with kidnapping to commit robbery (Pen. Code,1 § 209, subd. (b)(1); count one); second-degree robbery (§ 211; count two); false imprisonment by violence (§ 236; count three); two counts of assault with a firearm (§ 245, subd. (a)(2); counts four and five); and conspiracy to commit robbery (§ 182, subd. (a)(2); count six). The prosecutor alleged petitioner had a prior “strike” conviction (§ 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d)) and a prior serious felony (§ 667, subd. (a)(1)). In April 2012, a jury found petitioner guilty of robbery in count two and conspiracy in count six, but was unable to reach a verdict on the remaining counts. It appears petitioner later pled guilty in June 2012 to one of the counts for assault with a firearm in exchange for a 15-year maximum sentence for all three offenses and the dismissal of the remaining counts. At some point thereafter, but prior to sentencing, petitioner’s trial counsel filed a motion to withdraw the plea based on information that petitioner’s codefendant had told others that petitioner…