Q: Does the 3 strikes law still apply today
My boyfriend got a ride to sacramento from a friends girlfriend that he had never met before to go to his physical therapy appt. On the way back they got pulled over and the dog found 10 oz of meth and some heroin in a spot in the girls engine compartment. My boy friend was nothing but cooperative and let them search him he answered all their questions. He had just been paroled on oct 26th 2020 after serving 16 years in prison. He got permission from his parole officer and was in constant contact with him and had even given him the licence plate number make and model of the car even the vin number. HE DID NOT KNOW THE DRUGS WERE IN THE CAR. The girl even told the officers that he didn't know. Fast forward to his court date and they sentence him to eight years because of his strikes and his past. How can that be okay if he didn't know. He took the deal for the o instead of going to trial with it because if he lost they told him he would be facing 22 years. We really need some help pleas
A:
I would assume that your boyfriend was represented in the criminal court by an attorney. He would have consulted with his attorney before accepting any plea, or negotiated disposition. I would suggest that your boyfriend discuss this with his lawyer and if there is a good faith reason to withdraw his plea, then he needs to do so as soon as possible as there is a short amount of time in which to do so.
Penal Code 1018 PC reads, in pertinent part,
“On application of the defendant at any time before judgment or within six months after an order granting probation is made if entry of judgment is suspended, the court may, and in case of a defendant who appeared without counsel at the time of the plea the court shall, for a good cause shown, permit the plea of guilty to be withdrawn and a plea of not guilty substituted
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