People v. Messer CA1/5

BACKGROUND

In September 2022, appellant pled no contest to child abduction (Pen. Code,1 § 278) and violating a protective order (§ 273.6).2 According to the probation report, in June 2022 appellant went to the home of his estranged wife, who had a temporary domestic violence restraining order protecting her and their children from appellant, and attempted to take one of their children from her home. As part of the plea agreement, appellant also admitted two aggravating factors: numerous prior convictions and a prior prison term. (Cal. Rules of Court, rule 4.421(b)(2)–(3).) The written plea agreement reflected a maximum possible term of four years and stipulated that appellant’s sentence would be suspended and appellant would be granted probation to be released to a residential treatment program. In October 2022, the court sentenced appellant to an aggregate term of four years (the upper term on the child abduction count (§ 278)), with no split sentence (§ 1170, subd. (h)(5)). The court suspended execution of the sentence and placed appellant on three years’ probation. The terms of his probation provided he was to be released to a specified residential treatment program and was to…