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Name: People v. Navarro
Case #: F052604
Opinion Date: 04/08/2008
Citation: 161 Cal.App.4th 1100
Summary

Where an appellant receives a sentence identical to the one he agreed to in the plea bargain, an appellate challenge to specific negotiated terms of the plea bargain requires a certificate of probable cause. Appellant pled no contest to assault with a firearm, a criminal street gang allegation, and a firearm use allegation, in exchange for dismissal of all the other charges. At the plea hearing, the court advised him that the street gang allegation carried a five-year term. However, at the sentencing hearing, the court informed him that because the assault was considered a violent felony, the term for the gang allegation was a mandatory ten-year term. The trial court offered appellant the option of withdrawing his plea but appellant declined and instead argued that the assault was not a violent felony as the firearm use was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury. The trial court rejected the argument and imposed the ten-year term for the enhancement. The appellate court, without addressing the merits of appellant’s arguments, dismissed the appeal for lack of a certificate of probable cause.