People v. Duenas CA4/1


Filed 2/9/23 P. v. Duenas CA4/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115. COURT OF APPEAL, FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT DIVISION ONE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THE PEOPLE, D080225 Plaintiff and Respondent, v. (Super. Ct. No. SCN339701) MAXIMILIANO DUEÑAS, Defendant and Appellant. APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of San Diego County, Blaine K. Bowman, Judge. Affirmed. Sheila O’Connor, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, for Defendant and Appellant. Rob Bonta, Attorney General, Lance E. Winters, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Charles C. Ragland, Assistant Attorney General, Melissa A. Mandel and Joseph C. Anagnos, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent. In 2015, Maximiliano Dueñas pled guilty to transportation of a controlled substance and possession for sale of a controlled substance exceeding four kilograms. Dueñas now appeals from a January 2022 order denying his motion to vacate the judgment and withdraw his guilty plea under Penal Code section 1473.7.1 He argues that: (1) the trial court erred by deeming his motion untimely; (2) the trial court erred by finding insufficient evidence to show that he did not meaningfully understand the adverse immigration consequences of his plea; and (3) he sufficiently demonstrated that he would have rejected the plea had he correctly understood the resulting immigration consequences. We find no error in the trial court’s determination that Dueñas failed to demonstrate that he did not meaningfully understand the adverse immigration consequences of his plea. Accordingly, we affirm the order without deciding his other arguments regarding the timeliness of his motion or prejudice. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND In April 2015, the District Attorney for San Diego County filed an information charging Dueñas with: (1) transportation of heroin (Health & Saf. Code, § 11352, subd. (a)); (2) possession for sale of heroin (Health & Saf. Code, § 11351); (3) transportation of methamphetamine (Health & Saf. Code, § 11379, subd. (a)); and (4) possession for sale of methamphetamine (Health & Saf. Code, § 11378). The information also alleged that the quantity of heroin referred to in counts one and two exceeded one kilogram (Health & Saf. Code, § 11370.4, subd. (a)(1)) and the quantity of methamphetamine referred to in counts three and four exceeded four kilograms (Health & Saf. Code, § 11370.4, subd. (b)(2)). In June 2015, Dueñas completed a plea form and agreed to plead guilty to count three of the information. On the form, Dueñas admitted that he 1 Unless otherwise noted, all subsequent statutory references are to the Penal Code. 2 “transported a controlled substance” and “it exceeded 4 kilograms by weight.” The form included the signature of a sworn Spanish language interpreter verifying that the interpreter “truly translated for the defendant the entire contents of [the] form” and that Dueñas “indicated understanding of the contents …

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