People v. Hemati CA4/3

FACTS

Defendant’s Petition for Rehabilitation and Pardon On January 31, 2014, defendant filed a petition for a certificate of rehabilitation and pardon (the 2014 rehabilitation petition), stating he had suffered (1) a 2005 conviction of commercial burglary for which he was committed to prison and then released on parole in 2006; (2) a 2004 conviction of commercial burglary for which he was placed on probation; and (3) two 2003 convictions for possessing controlled substances for sale for which he was placed on probation. Defendant attached his apology letter (addressed to the Orange County District Attorney, among others), in which he stated the following. When he was a community college student, he became addicted to drugs, “which was a main contributor to [his] convictions for crimes of moral turpitude.” He transferred to the University of California, Riverside, where he earned a 3.4 grade point average by the time he graduated in 2009. One week before his graduation ceremony in May 2009, after a party thrown for him by his friends for his upcoming graduation, he was stopped close to his house and arrested for driving under the influence of marijuana. “By seeking therapy, going…