Chavez

Defendant Lorenzo Chavez pleaded no contest to charges that he offered to sell a controlled substance and failed to appear. The trial court suspended imposition of sentence and placed defendant on probation for four years.

After defendant successfully completed his probation in 2009, he filed a motion pursuant to Penal Code section 1385, asking the trial court to dismiss the action in the interests of justice based on ineffective assistance of counsel and asserted legal errors. The trial court concluded that because the motion was brought pursuant to section 1385 rather than section 1203.4, it did not have authority after probation ended to grant the requested relief. The trial court denied the motion to dismiss.

The People contend the denial was not an appealable order. Defendant asserts the order is appealable and the trial court erred in ruling that it lacked authority to dismiss under section 1385.

We conclude the order is appealable and the trial court did not err. Section 1203.4 is the exclusive method for a trial court to dismiss the conviction of a defendant who has successfully completed probation.

We will affirm the judgment.

BACKGROUND

Defendant…