No. 24-1273

Jonathan Phillips v. California

Lower Court: California
Docketed: 2025-06-13
Status: Denied
Type: Paid
Tags: due-process equal-protection felony-false-imprisonment fourteenth-amendment nolo-contendere plea-bargaining
Key Terms:
DueProcess Privacy JusticiabilityDoctri
Latest Conference: 2025-09-29
Question Presented (from Petition)

1. Does a felony false imprisonment conviction obtained by way of a nolo contendere plea violate the due process protections of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments where Petitioner was never advised by his defense counsel that his plea would later make him ineligible for California Penal Code Section 17(b) relief (reduction from felony to a misdemeanor)?

2. Has the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment been violated where individuals who have been found guilty of a felony by a jury were afforded section 17(b) relief, but Petitioner, who plead nolo contendere to the "wobbler" offense of felony false imprisonment, was not?

3. Should a felony false imprisonment conviction obtained by way of a nolo contendere plea, be reduced to a misdemeanor where, as here, it was never proven (and there is no evidence) the crime was accomplished with "violence, menace, fraud or deceit"?

Question Presented (AI Summary)

Does a felony false imprisonment conviction obtained by way of a nolo contendere plea violate due process protections where the defendant was not advised that the plea would make him ineligible for felony-to-misdemeanor relief?

Docket Entries

2025-10-06
Petition DENIED.
2025-07-30
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2025.
2025-06-10
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due July 14, 2025)

Attorneys

Jonathan Phillips
Orly AhronyAhrony Appeals Law Group, Petitioner