When an individual posts bail on a criminal case in Los Angeles County and later on doesn't show up for the court, what ends up happening is the court will issue a warrant for that person's arrest and will forfeit their bail. How to Get Bail Reinstated in Los Angeles In order to get that bail bac...
Preliminary Hearings are meant to be hearings for the judge to determine whether or not the prosecutors have met their burden at least prima facie in reference to each of the charges charged against a criminal defendant in Los Angeles. Elements of the Crimes in California Criminal Cases. What that...
When it comes to probation, I've seen probation anywhere from a year up to five years. I would say on average, if you're charged with a felony in Los Angeles County and you're put on probation, it's usually three years. Prosecution Objection to Ending Probation Early. When the defendant comes in a...
When it comes to criminal cases, the defendant in the case has an absolute right to testify or not to testify. The prosecutors cannot force an individual to testify in a case. In fact, there's a jury instruction in Los Angeles that says that the jury is not to assume anything bad about a defendan...
I've done a lot of domestic violence cases in Los Angeles throughout many years of practicing criminal defense. The law has gone back and forth and changed in relation to whether or not the prosecutors can get the statements in of alleged victims in domestic violence cases. People v. Crawford – S...
In criminal cases, in order to prove the charges, the prosecutors usually have to call witnesses either at a preliminary hearing, a motion a trial – also, the defense is entitled to call witnesses at the right proceedings. Witness Subpoena in Los Angeles Criminal Cases. In order to call a witness,...
Mainly when I see accident reconstruction experts being applicable in a criminal case has to do with some sort of a vehicular manslaughter charge related to some driving-related offense. For example, if two people are racing on the streets and a bad accident occurs and somebody dies, those people...
One thing people can't understand and I have to explain it to them all the time is, they'll get arrested for a crime, they'll post bail on the case and then the case will be set for them to appear approximately thirty days away in one of the Los Angeles courthouses, depending on which court has j...
Los Angeles is a huge metropolis. It stretches from all the way to Long Beach back across over to Lancaster. You have cases that are part of LA County in Valencia, Pasadena. There used to be Malibu court, LAX court, so you have a huge area where criminal cases are being filed across Los Angeles C...
The biggest control of how many criminal cases are going to be filed this year in LA is the police. If the police are upset and they feel like they are being maligned in the media, they just stop arresting people. I know a lot of police officers and I've talked to them about the whole attitude in...
The California three strikes law is a very potent weapon that the prosecutors use. It came into play in the early 1990's and it has doubled and tripled sentences for criminal defendants in Los Angeles County. The factors that the prosecutors are looking at in determining whether to strike a strik...
With all of the rising gun violence, there has been a number of different propositions and gun laws that have been passed throughout the country, and in particular, Los Angeles, California. This Proposition 63 is really starting to crack down on people who have guns who are committing crimes. So,...
When it comes to criminal defense, it's very difficult to put your finger on exactly how long a criminal case might take to resolve itself. A lot of the courts though are so over-crowded that they have rules as far as how quickly they want the cases moved through them. 90-Day Rule on Misdemeanor ...
Figuring out bail is not easy because there's a lot of fly-by-night bail bond agencies. What I would say in general, is pick somebody who obviously is well-known – does a lot of commercial advertising. Choose Established Bail Bondsman with Client Reviews Why? Because those people are unlikely to ...
Murder Charges Require Malice Aforethought. Murder really has to do with having an intent and having malice. In other words, when somebody becomes angry at another person and they decide to kill that person and they think it out and they plan it and execute the plan and kill the person, now you're...
Domestic violence charges can be very scary because typically what happens is the person is arrested. They have to post a $50,000 bail. Usually, the other spouse now has control of the home. Victims of Domestic Violence If there are kids involved, a lot of times you're prevented from seeing your ...
This concept has to do with a person not actually being sentenced and convicted of a crime. The prosecutors and judges will permit this type of resolution in a criminal case in Los Angeles if they're trying to give the criminal defendant a break or a chance to show them that they don't deserve to...
This has to do with a judge or even a party, the prosecutor, dismissing a case. But, it gives them the ability if it's dismissed without prejudice, to refile the case at another time if they have the grounds to do so. Usually though when I see this term, dismissed without prejudice, it usually ha...
Obviously, the sex crime of statutory rape is very serious and could cause a person to go to jail or prison and have a criminal record that is very hard to get off and very hard to get around as you try to search for jobs. So, obviously, people are looking for defenses if they can find them when ...
The federal government has gotten involved, along with other state governments across the country in preventing human trafficking. California is one of those states that is a leader in fighting against human trafficking and some of the bad results that can occur when individuals are taken advanta...
These petitions are very difficult to get granted by the judge because proving the concept of factual innocence basically means that once the facts are looked at by the judge, no reasonable person could construe that you committed whatever crime they're accusing you of, and a lot of times the rea...
The very short answer to this question is, very few circumstances. What I see happening with criminal defendants over the course of the last twenty-five years of practicing criminal defense in LA is that they try to explain themselves to the police and what they don't realize is the police are no...
There's all sorts of mental defenses in Los Angeles. One of the key defenses is sometimes people are just not operating in their right mind when they commit a crime. I've had people who were hallucinating on drugs. I've had people who had mixed drugs. I've had people who had actually been drugged...
A leading question as it relates to testimony being brought in during a criminal case is when the person who is asking the questions of a witness, basically suggest the answer. For example, someone could say, that car was blue, wasn't it? That's a leading question. Now, you can ask leading questi...
The term impeachment has to do with challenging a witness related to their testimony against a criminal defendant. There are different ways to impeach a witness. One form of impeachment is called extrinsic impeachment, which basically has to do with impeaching a person with evidence that's outsid...
