P. v. Newquist

Filed 8/31/06 P. v. Newquist CA4/2

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION TWO

APPEAL from the Superior Court of San Bernardino County. Douglas A. Fettel, Judge. Reversed with directions.

Gerald J. Miller, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.

Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Gary W. Schons, Senior Assistant Attorney General, and Lilia E. Garcia and Peter Quon, Jr., Supervising Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.

Appellant Damon Marshall Newquist (appellant) challenges the trial court's denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Appellant contends his mental condition prevented him from exercising his free and clear judgment when he pled guilty, his counsel was ineffective, and the trial court misunderstood the extent of its power to set aside the guilty plea. As discussed below, we conclude that the trial court did not conduct a meaningful hearing on the substance of appellant's motion to withdraw his plea. Therefore, we conditionally reverse the conviction and remand this matter to the trial court with directions to hold a hearing on the motion.

Factual and Procedural History

On July 17, 2003, appellant was charged with residential burglary (Pen. Code, § 459)^[1] (the burglary case) after he broke into a neighbor's apartment through a bedroom window, was seen leaving through the front door, and was later found hiding in the bedroom closet of another apartment. The victim later indicated that some items were missing from her apartment. The information alleged that appellant had a prior â€