This concept of hearsay is an interesting one. People through it around all the time, but unless you went to law school and understand what hearsay is and how it works, you're probably not using it the right way. Hearsay typically has to do in a criminal case in LA with a witness being on the sta...
When it comes to a trial in LA, at the end of the prosecution's case, the defense can make what's called an 1118 Motion with the judge. Basically, you're saying to the judge, we listened to all their evidence on all accounts and everything, and we don't believe that they have submitted sufficient...
Sometimes when the prosecutors and judge are unsure how they might sentence a defendant in a criminal case, they will request what's called a 90-day diagnostic. That's basically where a person is sent to prison to be evaluated for 90 days and see if the prison believes that they are a suitable ca...
Having done criminal defense cases for twenty-five years, I've had a lot of witness I.D. issues. Meaning, I've had a lot of cases where my client says, I'm innocent. I didn't commit the crime, but they have witnessed out there by identifying them as being involved in the crime. Obviously, that's ...
This is a big question that I see asked all the time and a lot of times my clients ask me this question. Obviously, nobody wants to go to jail. It's an unpleasant place. The conditions in the county jail are not good. It's overcrowded and there's a lot of violent individuals in there so it become...
If you've done criminal defense for a long time like I have – twenty-five years, you're going to be involved in a live line-up and where they conduct the live line-ups in Los Angeles County is where you would probably think- at the Los Angeles County jail. Most of the people that are going a live...
I have participated in approximately two hundred jury trials in the course of the last twenty-five years and selecting the right jury to hear the case is crucial from a defense standpoint. There're all kinds of different strategies and depending on what the rules have been over the years, I've ha...
Evidence is basically the way the prosecutors prove cases when they charge criminal defendants in Los Angeles County. They have to bring forth evidence. If they don't have evidence, they don't have a case. Even the defense can put on evidence to try to defend a criminal case. The defense doesn't ...
I tell you, a confession is a criminal defense attorney's worst nightmare. We hate confessions by clients. The most powerful evidence that the prosecutor could use against any criminal defendant — in my opinion, having done this for twenty-five years — is when they confess to the crime or when th...
One of the most sacred bonds between an attorney and a client when it comes to criminal defense or any attorney-client relation is the attorney/client privilege, which basically means that anything that the client tells the attorney has to remain confidential – even after the client's death. So, ...
The United States Supreme Court has handed down a new ruling which further damages the dictates of the Miranda holding. Basically, what it allows police to do is – when they have somebody in custody who they believe might have committed a crime and that person won't talk to th...
When it comes to searching people's homes, the police are going to need to satisfy certain requirements. A person's home is certainly their castle, but if the police can show that a particular person is either committing a crime in their home, or there's evidence of a crime in their home, then th...
In doing criminal defense for twenty-five years, I've seen many crimes charged at the Airport and the reason why is that security is so tight at LAX that they're constantly grabbing people's ID and running their criminal record. So, if they have a crime in another state or even internationally, t...
When it comes to setting bail, typically judges in Los Angeles County and all the courts across LA will set bail at what's called Bail Schedule. Bail Schedule basically is a list of all the crimes in a Bail Schedule book that the judges have come up with a particular bail for each crime. They bas...
When people talk about violent crimes they are usually talking about it with a negative connotation. Prosecutors and judges alike do not like violent felonies or misdemeanors and they will punish people in kind who commit these types of offenses. So, then you start to ask yourself, okay, so what ...
Over the course of the last 25 years, I've seen a lot of TV cameras be permitted to go inside the courtrooms and film what's going on, in my own cases and also in other cases – whether they be high-publicity actors or actresses, or whether it just involves a serious case like a murder or some sor...
I have both defended and seen many high-profile criminal cases across Los Angeles in my 25-year career. It's going to take a certain attorney with the right experience to be able to most effectively defend a criminal case in Los Angeles where the media is involved and it's a high-profile case. No...
I've been doing this a long time and I've dealt with a lot of bail situations, including outstanding warrants in California. The first thing you want to do is obviously get a good bail bondsman that knows the LA county court system and knows exactly what it takes in order to get the person out as...
More and more, whether someone goes to jail or to prison is a big issue in the criminal defense system in Los Angeles and across California. The Governor of California has really tried to clean out the prisons because of the overcrowding in the past and has really tried to set it up so only the w...
I have a lot of clients and those people who are considering retaining my services as a criminal defense attorney tell me well, the prosecutors don't have any evidence against me, so I don't really understand why I'm arrested and I don't understand how they're going to prove their case. And this ...
When it comes to getting booked in LA as far as a crime goes, this is a crucial distinction in the law, because once somebody is booked – and that means that the police are going to attempt to get the prosecutors – whether it be the City Attorney or District Attorney – to charge the person with a...
An arrest basically has to do with the police taking you into custody and putting you through the booking process. You'll then either be released with a citation or they are going to try to send you into court. If they attempt to send you into court, then you are going to have to either post a ba...
There are many different languages spoken in LA county. So, when somebody is arrested and charged with a crime and sent into a criminal court, if they do not speak the language or do not understand what's going on inside the courthouse, then they will be appointed an interpreter who speaks their ...
When I was a relatively young attorney, the three-strikes law came out in California. It was a very new concept that was basically designed to put career criminal offenders away for a long period of time. The legislature basically touted it as going after individuals who simply will not stop comm...
One of the most effective weapons that a criminal defense attorney has against the prosecution in a criminal case is their ability to cross-examine witnesses. In order for the prosecutors to prove any case, if the defense challenges them, they're going to have to put witnesses on the witness stan...
