Q: Many years ago i was convicted of a misdemeanor. My original plea of not guilty was changed to guilty/no contest on the
Advice of my public defender as part of a plea agreement with the Prosecuting attorney, and the original charge was changed. However, upon reading the penal code that applies to both the original charge and the conviction charge, neither charge should have applied to my situation, as it was self defense, and witness statements corroberate this. Should I attempt to have the sentence vacated due to Denial of effective assistance of counsel? Is that even possible given the age of the conviction, 1998.
A: No, the time has long since passed for you to address this situation.
A:
It's way too late to overturn this conviction. Even if witnesses said it was self defense, there's always a chance a jury might not have agreed.
You may be eligible to get the case dismissed under Penal Code 1203.4, which is sometimes called an "expungement" even though it doesn't really expunge anything. You can get the necessary forms from the clerk of the court where your conviction ccurred.
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