A court may not rely on unpaid victim restitution to deny either an expungement under PC 1203.4 or a reduction to a misdemeanor under PC 17.  PC 1203.4(c)(3)(C) and PC 17(f) prohibit using unpaid restitution as “grounds for denial,” and here the court emphasized the outstanding restitution in denying both forms of relief, requiring remand for reconsideration.

The full opinion is available on the court’s website here: https://www4.courts.ca.gov/opinions/documents/A172224.PDF