Defending Against Harm to a Person Within A Home or on a Property in Los Angeles. People talk about this all the time. If somebody brakes into your house and you end up using deadly force against that person, you'd probably be in a good position to have a justifiable homicide if that person was a...
Every time a jury trial starts the trial judge is responsible for reading all the pertinent jury instructions throughout the course of the trial. A lot of trial judges will start right from the beginning when the panel of jurors — fifty, sixty, seventy jurors — are brought into the courtroom and...
When it comes to these juvenile cases, one of my primary goals as a criminal defense attorney who practices in the juvenile area is to try to protect my client's record. Having a criminal record moving forward with your life — especially at such a young age as a juvenile — is very difficult to g...
A lot of people think this is a simple question. A witness will come, testify, and a jury decides. But, obviously, it's more complicated than that especially in a criminal case. In a criminal case in Los Angeles, or anywhere across the country, the prosecutors have the burden of proof, so they...
This is a big question because a lot of times — especially in felony cases; not as much in misdemeanor cases — there's a group of people arrested who are allegedly involved in a criminal conspiracy or other criminally-related activity and the police will separate all the people and take statement...
Waiver forms basically give the defendant in a criminal case their Constitutional rights that are available and they also tell them all them all the consequences of a plea in a criminal case. So, before somebody actually pleads guilty or no contest in a criminal case, their attorney needs to go ...
Believe it or not, a lot of people do choose to represent themselves in criminal cases in LA, even if the case is a misdemeanor or a felony, or even an infraction. I've seen people for many years now, representing themselves. Sometimes it really doesn't matter. A lot of times, especially in an...
It's a common myth for people to believe that any document can go into evidence and there's not a problem with it. All they have to do is put it in there and the judge will let it in. But the reality is, judges are not just going to let any documents in. They're not going to just let any witne...
These body attachments are scary because when witnesses don't show up in court pursuant to subpoenas, the person that subpoenaed that particular witness, especially in a criminal case where you have a lot of power because someone's freedom is on the line — that person can ask the judge to issue a...
A lot of clients and family members obviously want bails lowered after bail is determined. They don't want to have to pay bail bondsmen, and a lot of times bails are so high that people simply can't bail out. Once that bail is set by the judge — that's why it's so important to have an attorney ...
When somebody pleads guilty to a felony or other certain crimes, the courts will make them fill out what I refer to as gun form, which is basically pursuant to California Proposition 63. Everybody has to fill that form out and indicate whether or not they have any guns registered to them or any g...
Unbelievably enough, people post all sorts of criminal evidence and activity on their social media accounts — whether it be Facebook of Instagram — they're writing messages and saying things and showing photographs. I saw one case where a criminal defendant actually posted a picture of himself w...
Your attorney, especially when it comes to a criminal case with all the things that are on the line, is pretty much your champion. They're the ones that have your whole life story and your version of events. With the police taking a very one-sided account of what happened and really trying to g...
This is probably a big question on a lot of people's minds. How do you hire a criminal defense attorney? I've been doing this for twenty-five years and I have a lot of people who come in that are confused. They don't know exactly what to ask. It's not easy to go to friends or family for help, ...
When somebody uses a bond company to bail themselves out related to a criminal case in Los Angeles, if they don't pay the whole premium upfront, and they chose to make payments which a lot of payments will allow them to do and then they fail to make their payments or violate the agreement with th...
When it comes to the crime of drunk in public, people are being arrested and put into custody for basically, public intoxication which is the same thing as being drunk in public. A lot of times the people are just having the people dry out because they're drunk, they're causing problems, they're ...
This happens all the time in Los Angeles. I've been doing this for twenty-five years and the narcotic or drug cases in Los Angeles are not filed all the time by prosecutors and the main reason is it's the detective who are investigating these narcotic cases. nEither they've played it fast and loos...
Vehicle Code Section 14601.1. When it comes to driving on a suspended license, there's all kinds of different penalties that can arise. You may have to deal with the DMV. When you would have gotten your license back, now that amount of time will be extended because you got extra points on your rec...
What is criminal Trespassing? Penal Code Section 602. When it comes to criminal trespassing cases, the police will get involved in certain situations where somebody actually is trespassing on another person's property — whether that be a residential trespass or a trespass at a business. If you ha...
I've been practicing for many years now and anytime anybody was arrested, you never really have an opportunity to get that arrest record sealed. So, a lot of times law enforcement wouldn't file a case or they would later dismiss the case because they realized they didn't have a good case against ...
There's all sorts of concerts and rave parties throughout Los Angeles where people are getting caught by either undercover vice or some other way — maybe an employee, a security guard — and they're basically being charged with drug possession, drug sales and they're selling them at concerts, rave...
In a lot of Los Angeles cases, prosecutors are trying to get around this right to face their accuser. So, in general, any time there is a criminal case and someone is a witness against somebody and their evidence is critical, material and crucial in order to prosecute and convict that person, tha...
Penal Code Section 401. As California law stands today, helping someone commit suicide is a felony. You could be prosecuted and be sentenced up to three years in prison. Usually where we see these coming is where a family member who is sick, is dying, or it's already clear the person is dying and ...
In Los Angeles California animal abuse cases are taken very serious by everybody who comes in contact with them. They are a very politically charged issue and it's important that if you have an animal abuse case in LA you find an attorney who is familiar with how the authorities handle these case...
This concept of alternative sentencing a lot of people don't really understand what it is or what it means. I've been doing this for twenty-five years and when I hear people talking about alternative sentencing, they're usually talking about a situation where they're facing a crime in one of the ...
