PEOPLE v. WARDELL
Filed 6/15/06
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA
THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT
(Yuba)
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| THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. WARDELL HARRY EMERY, Defendant and Appellant. |
C050534
(Super. Ct. No. CRF05281)
|
APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Yuba County, Dennis J. Buckley, Judge. Dismissed.
Susan K. Keiser, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant.
Bill Lockyer, Attorney General, Robert R. Anderson, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Mary Jo Graves, Senior Assistant Attorney General, Charles A. French and Robert C. Nash, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
Defendant Wardell Harry Emery entered a negotiated plea of no contest to inflicting corporal injury upon his spouse and admitted personally using a deadly weapon and inflicting great bodily injury in committing the offense. Consistent with the plea agreement, defendant was sentenced to an aggregate term of six years in state prison--the low term of two years for spousal abuse, plus three years for inflicting great bodily injury and one year for using the deadly weapon.
On appeal, defendant claims that the trial court abused its discretion and violated his right to due process of law by refusing to continue the sentencing hearing so defense counsel could investigate whether a ground existed for moving to withdraw defendant's plea and admissions. Because defendant did not obtain a certificate of probable cause (Pen. Code, § 1237.5), we shall dismiss the appeal.
As we will explain, where an appellate challenge to the trial court's ruling is in substance a challenge to the validity of the defendant's plea, the appeal is subject to the requirements of Penal Code section 1237.5. (People v. Panizzon (1996) 13 Cal.4th 68, 76.) The appeal cannot be brought unless the defendant has sought, and the trial court has issued, a certificate of probable cause â€
