P. v. Ruiz CA4/3
The trial court denied defendant Juan Jose Ruiz’s motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Before pleading guilty, defendant was aware that the prosecution was relying, in part, on testimony from informants who were placed in defendant’s jail cell, and to whom defendant had made incriminating statements. Defendant was provided recordings and transcripts of his conversations with the informants, and with information about the crimes of moral turpitude committed by them. Defendant was also made aware at the preliminary hearing that these informants were working on behalf of the police.
At the time he pled guilty, however, defendant was not aware that the informants were former members of the Mexican Mafia, who had been provided cash and other benefits in exchange for acting as informants, and that his constitutional rights may have been violated. (People v. Dekraai (2016) 5 Cal.App.5th 1110.)
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