Reducing a California Felony to a Misdemeanor: Wobblers and PC 17(b)
Often, yes. A large share of California felonies are wobblers — offenses the Legislature made punishable either as a felony or as a misdemeanor, at the court’s discretion. For a wobbler, Penal Code section 17(b) gives the judge authority to declare the offense a misdemeanor, sometimes years after the case ended. Whether your conviction qualifies turns on three things: what you were convicted of, what sentence you received, and how you have done since.
What a wobbler is
A felony is a crime that can be punished by imprisonment in state prison or by a felony term served in county jail under Penal Code section 1170(h). A misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in county jail. A wobbler is an offense whose statute lists both options — a prison term or up to a year in county jail — and leaves it to the prosecutor and the judge to decide which it will be.
The code does not label these offenses; you have to read the punishment clause. Some common examples:
- Assault with a deadly weapon (Penal Code 245(a)(1)) — two, three, or four years in state prison, or up to a year in county jail;
- Corporal injury to a spouse or partner (Penal Code 273.5) — two, three, or four years, or up to a year in county jail;
- Grand theft (Penal Code 487) — in most cases, a felony jail term under section 1170(h), or up to a year in county jail;
- Second-degree burglary (Penal Code 459) — the same structure, unlike first-degree residential burglary, which carries only a prison term;
- DUI causing injury (Vehicle Code 23153) — for a first offense, state prison or 90 days to one year in county jail.
Offenses that carry only a prison term — robbery, residential burglary, most sex offenses — are straight felonies. No judge can reduce them under section 17(b), however sympathetic the facts.
When the reduction can happen
Section 17(b) lists several points at which a wobbler becomes a misdemeanor. In practical order:
At charging. The prosecutor can simply file the case as a misdemeanor from the start.
Before trial. The court can determine, on its own motion or a party’s motion, that the offense is a misdemeanor, and the case then proceeds as if it had been filed that way. This used to be tied to the preliminary hearing; an amendment effective January 1, 2026 extends it to any time before trial. If the motion is denied, a second one requires changed circumstances, such as newly available facts or a change in the law.
At sentencing. When the court imposes a punishment other than state prison or a felony jail term under section 1170(h), the offense is a misdemeanor. And when the court grants probation, it can declare the offense a misdemeanor at that time.
Later, after probation. This is the path most people are asking about. If the court granted probation and did not reduce the offense then, section 17(b)(3) lets the defendant (or the probation officer) apply for the reduction afterward. The motion is usually filed after probation ends, though it can be filed earlier.
The sentence that closes the door
The one hard limit: if you were sentenced to state prison, or to a felony term in county jail under section 1170(h), the offense cannot be reduced under section 17(b). The statute ties the reduction to a judgment imposing some punishment other than those. This is one reason the sentencing hearing matters so much: probation on a wobbler keeps the door open; a prison or 1170(h) term shuts it. A jail sentence served as a condition of probation is different — someone who did six months in county jail on probation can still ask.
What the judge weighs
The reduction is discretionary; nothing entitles you to it. The California Supreme Court, in People v. Superior Court (Alvarez) (1997) 14 Cal.4th 968, described the relevant considerations as the nature and circumstances of the offense, the defendant’s appreciation of and attitude toward the offense, and the defendant’s traits of character as shown by behavior and demeanor, alongside the general objectives of sentencing. The same case held that a prior strike does not, by itself, bar a reduction.
In a post-probation motion, that translates into a few practical questions. Was the offense at the low end of what the statute covers? Did you complete probation without violations, pay restitution, and finish any classes or treatment? What has your life looked like since, and why does the felony label matter now — a job, a license, housing, immigration? A motion that answers those questions with documents is far stronger than one that just asks. The prosecutor may oppose, and the judge decides.
What the reduction does — and does not — change
Once reduced, the offense is, in the statute’s words, a misdemeanor for all purposes. You can truthfully answer that you have not been convicted of a felony. The Court of Appeal has applied that language to lift a felony-based bar to a teaching credential, and the Supreme Court in People v. Park (2013) 56 Cal.4th 782 held that a wobbler already reduced to a misdemeanor could not be used as a prior serious felony to enhance a later sentence. Three limits deserve attention.
Timing. The reduction works going forward. Park turned on the reduction coming before the new offense; a conviction that is still a felony when you commit a new crime can be treated as a felony prior, and consequences already suffered are not undone.
Firearms. A reduction generally removes the California lifetime firearm ban that attaches to a felony conviction, because you are no longer a convicted felon. But Penal Code section 29805 imposes its own ten-year firearm prohibition on a list of misdemeanors that includes assault with a deadly weapon, corporal injury to a partner, criminal threats, and stalking — and a misdemeanor conviction for corporal injury to a partner on or after January 1, 2019 carries a lifetime California ban. Federal law is a separate question: it generally treats a state misdemeanor punishable by two years or less as outside the federal felony ban, but it has its own permanent prohibition for misdemeanor crimes of domestic violence. Do not possess a firearm on the strength of a reduction order until someone has checked both state and federal law against your specific conviction.
Sex offender registration. Section 17 itself says the reduction does not relieve anyone of a registration duty under Penal Code section 290.
Pairing it with expungement
A section 17(b) reduction and an expungement under Penal Code section 1203.4 do different things, and they are commonly requested together in a single motion. The reduction changes what the conviction is; the expungement sets aside the plea or verdict and dismisses the case, releasing you from most penalties and disabilities of the conviction. The order matters: reduce first, then dismiss, so the record shows a dismissed misdemeanor rather than a dismissed felony. An expungement on its own does not turn a felony into a misdemeanor, and it does not restore firearm rights.
California has also added automatic relief. Under Penal Code section 1203.425, the Department of Justice reviews records monthly and grants dismissal-type relief without a petition for qualifying convictions, including some felonies once probation or supervision is complete and a waiting period has run without a new felony. Serious and violent felonies and registrable sex offenses are excluded. Automatic relief does not reduce a felony to a misdemeanor, so a 17(b) motion can still be worth filing after the state has cleared the record on its own. See Clearing a Criminal Record in California: Expungement Under Penal Code 1203.4 for how that process works.
Prop 47 and Prop 64: a different path
Two voter initiatives reclassified whole categories of offenses, and they work differently from section 17(b). Proposition 47 (Penal Code section 1170.18) made certain drug possession and low-value theft offenses misdemeanors and lets people who have completed their sentences apply to have those felonies designated misdemeanors; if the criteria are met, the court must grant it. That relief is also a misdemeanor for all purposes, with one express exception: it does not restore firearm rights. Proposition 64 (Health and Safety Code section 11361.8) does the same for cannabis convictions, redesignating them as misdemeanors or infractions. Neither depends on the offense being a wobbler or on the sentence you received.
A felony label is often the one thing standing between someone and a job, a license, or a lease, and for a wobbler it is frequently removable. For a case that has not yet resolved, the better outcome is usually to avoid the conviction altogether; see Misdemeanor Diversion in California: How Penal Code 1001.95 Can End a Case Without a Conviction.
Wondering whether an old felony on your record is a wobbler? Ask a legal question.