Tooby's California Post-Conviction Relief for Immigrants

(D)

Criminal Effect of Dismissal.  If the charge[368] is dismissed after conviction – whether by trial or plea, the effect under California law is as if the defendant has never been prosecuted for that charge or allegation: 

            The discretion of a trial judge to dismiss a criminal action under section 1385 may be exercised at any time during the trial, including after a jury verdict of guilty. (People v. Superior Court (Howard) (1968) 69 Cal.2d 491, 501-502 [72 Cal.Rptr. 330, 446 P.2d 138].)  Section 1385 authorizes the court to dismiss in furtherance of justice in any circumstance in which the legislative body has not clearly manifested a contrary intent. (Id. at pp. 503-505.)  A judgment of dismissal is not an adjudication the charged crime was not committed. Rather, the dismissal operates to free the criminal defendant from further prosecution and punishment for that crime. The defendant stands as if he had never been prosecuted for the charged offense.[369]

Because dismissal is as if the defendant has never been prosecuted, it is also as if s/he had never been sentenced.

[368] California law distinguishes between a conviction that is dismissed, which is eliminated, and an allegation of a prior conviction contained in the charging paper in a later case.  In the latter case, only the prior conviction allegation is dismissed from the current charging paper, but the underlying conviction is not disturbed.  People v. Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497, 508, 53 Cal.Rptr.2d 789.

[369] People v. Superior Court (Flores) (1989) 214 Cal.App.3d 127, 136, 262 Cal.Rptr. 576, citing People v. Simpson (1944) 66 Cal.App.2d 319, 329, 152 P.2d 339.