I went to San Fernando court today and learned of additional charges against me that I was not aware of, is this allowed

Question: I went to San Fernando court today and learned of additional charges against me that I was not aware of, is this allowed? I went to court for a public intoxication charge, however when I went up to talk to the judge I learned that I had also been charged with underage possession of alcohol. I was pretty intoxicated when I was actually arrested and honestly do not remember much of the actual arrest but I never received a ticket for underage possession, only for public intoxication. I plead 1st time offender and got community service, alcohol classes, and probation which is very standard. However, I would like to know if there is anything I could do to maybe appeal the decision because I had no idea about my charged of underage possession of alcohol.
Answer: If you were made aware of the new charges, then knowingly and intelligently entered a plea to those charges, then it is not something you can appeal. The potential remedy in an event you were unclear of what was going on would be a motion to withdraw a plea, which must be made as soon as possible, and generally, within 180 days from entering the plea unless special circumstances exist. An appeal would be a potentially appropriate remedy in situations where there was an actual trial and you lost that trial.
To answer your other question, a prosecutor can add charges after initial filing and prior to resolution of the case. In the future, I would recommend having an attorney handle any matters such as this (and before entering a plea) to handle these situations as they occur.
Sincerely,
Phil Hache
DUI & Criminal Defense Attorney
www.philhachelaw.com
Handling DUI and Criminal matters throughout Courts in Southern California including Van Nuys, San Fernando, Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Metro, Bellflower, Alhambra, Malibu, Compton, Inglewood and other Courts.