You can find the infraction appeal process at the California Courts website and you can find local rules of court at your local law library or online. If what you've said so far is true, it seems like you'd have a good case for appeal. Keep in mind that you need to focus on errors the judge made in law. You generally can't ask the Appellate Court to reconsider evidence and come to a different conclusion than the trial judge did or introduce new evidence and testimony. Ordinarily, it's not a big deal for the trial court to allow a correction to the charging document before trial begins but I don't know whether the court can allow that after trial begins. Certainly, it's improper for the court to change the charge in your absence and then not allow you to defend yourself against the new charge. Is there a Due Process problem in your courts? That, or maybe a real money shortage.

