Can a defendant withdraw his no contest plea and plead not guilty?

On September 17, 2012, defendant filed a "Motion to Vacate," seeking to vacate his convictions and allow him to withdraw his no contest pleas and instead plead not guilty. The motion argued defendant had not been advised by either the court or his attorney of the immigration consequences of his no contest pleas. Attached to the motion were a deportation order by a federal immigration judge and a hand-printed statement by defendant stating he was never informed that his pleas in his drug case could lead to his deportation and if he had been informed of this, he would have pleaded not guilty and gone to trial to avoid deportation. The motion relied upon both Penal Code section 1016.5¹ [motion to vacate for trial court's failure to advise regarding immigration consequences of a plea] and Padilla v. Kentucky (2010) 559 U.S. 356 [130 S.Ct. 1473] [effective assistance of counsel requires counsel to inform defendant whether plea carries risk of deportation].