Can a defendant seek a certificate of rehabilitation after pleading guilty to violating section 288, subdivision (a) of the California Penal Code?

We therefore reverse the order granting defendant a certificate of rehabilitation and remand the matter back to the trial court. Any request by defendant for a certificate of rehabilitation is now moot, given the 2014 changes that eviscerated his equal protection contentions. By pleading guilty to violating section 288, subdivision (a), defendant made himself subject to any later legislative changes that may affect him. (Doe v. Harris (2013) 57 Cal.4th 64, 66 ["[T]he general rule in California is that the plea agreement will be ' "deemed to incorporate and contemplate not only the existing law but the reserve power of the state to amend the law or enact additional laws for the public good and in pursuance of public policy. . . ." ' "].) This means the law that applies to any further proceedings is the current law, which leaves no room for an equal protection challenge, rather than the law that applied at the time of the hearing that already occurred. Consequently, there is nothing for the trial court to do but to enter an order finding defendant statutorily ineligible for the relief he requested.

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