Does a defendant have a valid claim to have been denied a plea?

Apparently, defendant's due process claim is also waived. (Cf. People v. Haydon (1979) 95 Cal.App.3d 413, 418-419 [holding defendant's guilty plea waived due process challenge to pretrial delay between arrest and filing of complaint].) But even if defendant's due process claim is cognizable on appeal, it fails on the merits. Defendant cites no portion of the record which demonstrates the People actually made him a plea offer. At most, defendant contends the People expressed openness to a plea if he and his codefendant both pleaded guilty, and that, even after his codefendant pleaded guilty, the People still held out the possibility of a plea bargain for defendant.

True, as late as November 19, 2013, defendant's attorney told the trial court that a plea deal might be in the offing, and the People did not contradict him. But a mere week later, when the People announced they were ready for trial and asked for a trial date of December 2, 2013, defendant's attorney told the court, "That is agreeable, Your Honor." Announcing ready for trial is no empty formality. "[T]he trial court is entitled to insist that when a party announces 'ready' for trial, that it actually means ready to proceed." (People v. Allan (1996) 49 Cal.App.4th 1507, 1518.) There is no indication in the record that, after announcing ready for trial, the People were still open to a plea deal. To the contrary, on the date of trial, the prosecutor informed the trial judge that "going back the past few weeks," the People told defense counsel they were ready for trial and they would not be open to a plea bargain. If defense counsel believed he needed additional time

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either to finalize a plea bargain or to more fully prepare for trial, he should not have announced ready for trial when he did. (See Williams v. Superior Court (1996) 46 Cal.App.4th 320, 332 ["The consequences of not being prepared for trial should inspire counsel to give the court an honest assessment of counsel's ability to timely try the case"].)