In California, sometimes you made the mistake of entering a guilty plea, when you are innocent.  You might have done so because you could not afford to hire an attorney, or because someone pressured you to do so, or because you do not understand English well and was tricked. 

    Now you face a guilty conviction and it is ruining your life.  If you are an immigrant, the immigration court now wants to deport you.  You regret what you have done.  What do you do?  You withdraw the plea.

    In California, a defendant moving to withdraw a plea has the burden of proving the grounds for withdrawal by clear and convincing evidence. 

    The granting or refusing of leave to withdraw or change a plea in a criminal case rests in the sound discretion of the trial court, and such a ruling will not be disturbed on appeal absent an abuse of discretion. The trial court's discretion in ruling on a motion to withdraw a plea should be liberally exercised.

    While there is generally no absolute right to withdraw a guilty plea, if you can prove that you were denied a relevant constitutional right, the withdrawal of a guilty plea is a matter of right and the court has no discretion in the matter.
When a defendant brings a motion to withdraw a guilty plea, the trial court has to review the entire record to determine whether the plea was valid; the court may not simply review the plea canvass in a vacuum, conclude that it indicates that the defendant understood what he or she was doing, and use that conclusion as the sole basis for denying a motion to withdraw a plea.

    Some of the reason why a plea may be withdrawal are:
(1) the plea was involuntarily;
(2) without effective assistance of counsel;
(3) without an understanding of the nature of the charges;
(4) after a court's failure to establish a sufficient factual basis for the plea;
(5) pursuant to a plea agreement that was not kept by the prosecution; and
(6) as a result of procedural errors by the court.

Once a defendant withdraws his or her guilty plea, the government is entitled to try the defendant on all the counts in the indictment, including those it had dismissed under a plea agreement.