People v. Angeles CA5

INTRODUCTION

In 2001, appellant Manuel Silva Angeles (appellant) pleaded no contest to felony possession of cocaine (Health & Saf. Code, § 11550) and misdemeanor driving with a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 percent or greater (Veh. Code, § 23152, subd. (b)) and was placed on probation. Appellant was not a citizen of the United States. At the time of his plea, according to postconviction declarations filed by his immigration attorney, appellant was “the derivative beneficiary” of a visa petition filed in 1992 by his father, and the petition had been “approved” but was “pending.” Appellant declared that he became the subject to removal proceedings in 2014. In 2018, appellant filed a motion to vacate his 2001 plea pursuant to Penal Code section 1473.71, a statute that was enacted in 2016 and became effective on January 1, 2017. (People v. Mejia (2019) 36 Cal.App.5th 859, 861 (Mejia).) Section 1473.7 provides a basis for a noncitizen who is no longer in custody to move to vacate a conviction because of prejudicial error regarding adverse immigration consequences. If the court grants the motion, it shall permit the moving party to withdraw his plea. (§ 1473.7, subd. (e)(3).) Section…