P. v. Valenzuela
Pursuant to a plea agreement, defendant Ruben Valenzuela, Jr., pleaded guilty to sexual penetration of a child who is 10 years of age or younger (Pen. Code, § 288.7, subd. (b)), which carries a prison term of 15 years to life.[1] In exchange, the remaining three counts were dismissed: two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child (§ 269, subds. (a)(5)) and (a)(1)) (counts two and three) and a count of a forcible lewd and lascivious act upon a child under the age of 14 years (§ 288, subd. (b)(1)) (count four). Defendant unsuccessfully moved to withdraw his guilty plea. Defendant filed a notice of appeal from the judgment of conviction and obtained a certificate of probable cause. (§ 1237.5.)
On appeal, defendant contends that it was an abuse of discretion to deny his motion to withdraw his guilty plea because, at the time he pleaded, he was unaware that he had valid grounds to challenge a search warrant and that he would not have entered the plea if he had been aware of those grounds. The search warrant, which issued in December 2009, had authorized the search of defendant's residence for "[p]hotos,videos and images depicting child erotica or child pornography" and "[d]airies, journals, letters and notes referencing sexual fantasies, sexual inclinations and sex with minors" among other items. In support of the motion to withdraw his plea, defendant had argued the search warrant was based upon "stale" information because the affidavit indicated that the last time the victim had seen anything inappropriate at his residence was "during the latter part of December 2008."
Defendant's waiver of the right to appeal precludes our review of his appellate contention.
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