A felony charge in California means you’ve been accused of the state’s most serious class of crime, one punishable by death, state prison, or a county jail term served under realignment. Sentences run from 16 months at the low end to life in prison, and even a probation-only outcome leaves you with a conviction that follows you through firearm rights, voting, jury service, employment, and immigration status. What you’re actually facing depends on the specific statute charged, whether the offense can be reduced to a misdemeanor, and whether you have prior convictions that qualify as strikes.
How California Defines a Felony
Under Penal Code 17, a felony is any crime punishable by death, imprisonment in state prison, or imprisonment in a county jail under Penal Code 1170(h).1California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 17 – Preliminary Provisions The label attaches to what the statute authorizes, not what the judge ultimately imposes. A crime stays a felony even if you end up with probation or local jail time.
Where the sentence is served changed after the Public Safety Realignment Act of 2011. People convicted of non-violent, non-serious felonies who have no prior violent or serious convictions and are not required to register as sex offenders now serve their time in county jail rather than state prison.2California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. 2011 Public Safety Realignment Fact Sheet If you have a prior serious or violent felony or a sex-offender registration requirement, the sentence still goes to state prison.3California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1170(h) Either way, the conviction remains a felony on your record.
Wobbler Offenses
A large share of California felonies are “wobblers,” meaning the same statute lets prosecutors file the case as either a felony or a misdemeanor. Common examples include assault with a deadly weapon, domestic violence, grand theft, and vehicular manslaughter. The prosecutor chooses based on the facts and your record, but that choice isn’t final.
A judge can reduce a wobbler to a misdemeanor at the preliminary hearing, at sentencing, or when granting probation.4California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 17(b) If you complete felony probation on a wobbler, you can later petition to have the conviction reclassified as a misdemeanor. That reclassification wipes out many of the collateral disabilities a felony carries, which is why wobbler status often drives the entire plea negotiation.
Separate from the wobbler mechanism, Proposition 36 (passed in November 2024) allows theft of items worth $950 or less to be charged as a felony when the defendant has two or more prior theft-related convictions, and created a “treatment-mandated felony” track for repeat possession of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, or methamphetamine. Completing court-ordered treatment dismisses the charges; failing it exposes the defendant to up to three years in prison.5Legislative Analyst’s Office. Proposition 36 Ballot Analysis
What Happens After You’re Charged
A felony case moves through more steps than a misdemeanor, and the early ones set the terms for everything that follows.
Arraignment
Your first appearance is the arraignment. The judge reads the charges, advises you of your rights, takes your plea, and appoints an attorney if you can’t afford one. The court also addresses release — setting bail according to the county schedule or releasing you on your own recognizance, with adjustments based on the circumstances.
Preliminary Hearing
Felonies include a step misdemeanors don’t: the preliminary hearing. The prosecution has to show a judge there’s probable cause to believe a crime occurred and that you committed it. That standard is far below the “beyond a reasonable doubt” required at trial. If you’re in custody, the hearing must happen within 10 court days of arraignment; out of custody, the window is 60 days.6California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 859b If the judge finds probable cause, the case moves toward trial. If not, charges are dismissed, though the prosecutor can sometimes refile. This hearing is also one of the moments a judge can knock a wobbler down to a misdemeanor.
Trial
After the preliminary hearing you’re arraigned on the information, the formal charging document. California law requires a felony jury trial to begin within 60 days of that arraignment, though defendants routinely waive the deadline so their attorney has time to prepare. You can choose a jury or a bench trial.
Prison Terms and Fines
Most California felonies use a three-tier sentencing structure. The statute lays out a low, middle, and high term, and the judge selects from those three. The middle term is presumptive — the high term is off the table unless aggravating facts were found true beyond a reasonable doubt at trial or admitted by the defendant.7California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1170 When a statute doesn’t specify its own triad, the default is 16 months, two years, or three years. The low term is favored when the defendant experienced trauma, abuse, or neglect that contributed to the offense, or was under 26 at the time.
Two separate financial obligations usually apply. If the underlying statute doesn’t fix a fine, the court can impose up to $10,000.8California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 672 On top of that, every felony conviction carries a mandatory restitution fine of $300 to $10,000. When a victim suffered financial losses, the court must also order full direct restitution to the victim, and your ability to pay doesn’t reduce the amount.9California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1202.4
Probation and Supervision After Release
For many felonies, a judge can grant formal probation instead of incarceration. Formal probation means regular reporting to a county probation officer and compliance with conditions such as drug testing, counseling, community service, or stay-away orders. The maximum probation term for most felonies is two years, with longer periods allowed for certain violent felonies.10California Legislative Information. California Penal Code AB-1950 Probation – Length of Terms Violating a condition can lead the court to revoke probation and impose the original prison sentence.
If you serve a prison term, release almost always comes with supervision attached. People convicted of serious or violent felonies, third-strike offenders, and registered sex offenders go on state parole supervised by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Everyone else lands on Post-Release Community Supervision, run by county probation, for up to three years, with early discharge possible after six months of compliance.
The Three Strikes Law
California’s Three Strikes law stacks penalties on anyone with prior convictions for serious or violent felonies. A “strike” is any conviction listed under Penal Code 667.5(c) (violent felonies) or 1192.7(c) (serious felonies), including murder, rape, robbery, first-degree burglary, kidnapping, carjacking, arson, and any felony involving a firearm or great bodily injury.11California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Definition of Serious Felony Offenses
- With one prior strike, any new felony conviction gets double the normal sentence for that offense.12California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 667
- With two or more prior strikes, a new serious or violent felony conviction carries a minimum of 25 years to life.12California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 667
A 2012 reform narrowed the third-strike rule: the current offense must itself be serious or violent to trigger 25 to life. If it isn’t, you’re sentenced as a second striker instead, unless the prosecution proves aggravating factors such as firearm use during the offense.12California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 667
Life After a Felony Conviction
What the court orders is only part of what a felony costs you. The collateral consequences outlast the sentence.
Firearms
A felony conviction in California carries a lifetime ban on owning, buying, or possessing a firearm, regardless of whether the felony involved violence. The ban reaches felony convictions from other states and the federal system.13California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 29800 Violating it is itself a felony, and even a dismissal under Penal Code 1203.4 does not restore firearm rights.
Voting
You lose the right to vote only while serving a state or federal prison term for a felony. Once released, your voting rights are automatically restored, even on parole, probation, or community supervision.14California Legislative Information. California Elections Code 2101 You do need to re-register. Before 2021, people on parole couldn’t vote; that is no longer the law.
Jury Service
You can’t serve on a jury while incarcerated or while on parole, Post-Release Community Supervision, or felony probation. Eligibility returns once the sentence and any supervision end.15Superior Court of California. Juror Qualifications and Terms of Service
Employment and Professional Licensing
A felony record shows up on most employer background checks. California’s “ban the box” law bars employers from asking about convictions on the initial application, but they can consider the conviction later in the hiring process. Professional licensing boards in fields like nursing, law, real estate, and medicine can deny or revoke a license over a felony, weighing whether the offense is related to the profession, how much time has passed, and evidence of rehabilitation. Offenses involving violence against vulnerable people or sex crimes are treated far more harshly and can bar you permanently from health care work.
Immigration
For non-citizens, a felony conviction can be devastating. Federal immigration law defines “aggravated felonies” broadly, and the category includes many offenses California doesn’t label as felonies. A conviction for an aggravated felony after November 29, 1990, permanently bars a non-citizen from establishing the good moral character required for naturalization.16U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual Volume 12 Part F Chapter 4 – Permanent Bars to Good Moral Character Many aggravated felonies also make a non-citizen deportable with almost no relief available. Because the federal and state definitions don’t line up, non-citizens should get immigration-specific advice before taking any plea.
Clearing a Felony Record
California offers several ways to reduce the lasting weight of a felony conviction, though none erase it in every context.
Dismissal Under Penal Code 1203.4
If you were granted probation and completed it successfully, you can petition the court to dismiss the conviction. The court lets you withdraw your plea, enter a not-guilty plea, and then dismisses the case, which lifts most of the penalties and disabilities tied to the conviction. The limits matter. A dismissed conviction can still be used against you in a future prosecution. You still have to disclose it when applying for public office or a state professional license. It does not restore firearm rights. Certain sex offenses are ineligible entirely, and the prosecutor must get 15 days’ notice before the court can grant the petition.17California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 1203.4
Automatic Record Sealing Under SB 731
Starting in late 2024, California began automatically sealing certain felony conviction records. If you complete your sentence and go four years without any new contact with the criminal justice system, your conviction is sealed and no longer appears on standard background checks. Serious or violent felonies and offenses requiring sex offender registration are excluded. Law enforcement and the courts keep access, and you still have to disclose the conviction when applying for public office.
Certificate of Rehabilitation
For people who served state prison time rather than receiving probation, a Certificate of Rehabilitation is the alternative. You must have lived in California continuously for at least five years, and the total waiting period from the end of your sentence is generally seven years or more depending on the offense.18California Courts. Certificate of Rehabilitation A granted certificate is forwarded automatically to the Governor as a pardon application. People convicted of sex offenses involving minors are permanently ineligible.