Can Police Brutality Cause My Los Angeles Criminal Case To Get Dismissed?
This is a big question that comes up a lot in criminal defense, especially in Los Angeles County, California, where the police are violent with people. They hurt people. I've seen them break bones and cause stitches, and it really doesn't get your criminal case dismissed, but sometimes it can be used to try to defend you and show that the people have exaggerated in their police report.
Because any time the police use any physical force against somebody that they're apprehending about a criminal case, they have to justify it.
So, what they're going to do is pencil-whip the defendant to death. In other words, they will put a bunch of bad stuff in the police report to justify their actions because they can get in trouble if they don't.
They know defense attorneys like me are going to use it in a criminal case, especially if it's relevant. But I think even more importantly, each law enforcement agency has its own internal affairs unit.
So, all somebody has to do is complain to that unit, and they're going to investigate it. If any violence were involved, they'd do a full-blown investigation, where they get video footage and interview witnesses, including civilians, defendants, and other police officers who might have been there when the incident occurred.
Justification of Using Force
The bottom line is, when it comes to criminal defense, I'm always arguing to juries, prosecutors, and judges that they've said so many bad things about my clients during their arrest because they're trying to justify their actions.
They're trying to justify the fact that they had to use physical force — hurt the person, use violence. The reality is they're trying to save their butts because if they do something wrong, not only will they get fired from their job, they could be criminally prosecuted for it.
Make no mistakes. These reports, whenever violence is used against a defendant in a criminal case, are going to be slanted, unfortunately, and they're going to be severely slanted against any criminal defendant. The bottom line is, if the police beat you, it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win your criminal case.
If you were doing something criminal, they could prosecute you criminally.
Now, if the beating had to do with your criminal case and they're lying about the facts surrounding your criminal case, then that could be used as a defense to show the jury that the only reason they're saying all of this bad stuff about the defendant is that they beat the defendant. They don't want to get in trouble, and they're trying to justify their actions by tripping up all of these criminal charges.
So, if you've got a case where police brutality was involved and you're being charged with a crime in Los Angeles County and you're being prosecuted in one of the courts, give me a call. We'll sit down. I've been doing this for twenty-five years.
I've handled a lot of cases where the police have beaten people up and then tried to justify their actions by dummying up their police reports. I know how to ferret this out, attack it, fight it, and get you the result you deserve if you have a criminal case pending in LA County.
