Pasadena is its own city and they have their own courthouse to handle criminal defense cases that occur in their jurisdiction — usually about a five-mile radius from the courthouse. Anything that occurs there is going to be prosecuted by the District Attorney's office for LA county, but they also have their Pasadena branch.
I've been practicing in that courthouse now for 26 years, handled hundreds of cases, so I have a pretty good feel for it. That particular courthouse has been around for quite some time.
It's one of the older courthouses with not that many courtrooms. They've got a bunch of surrounding courthouses that also handle some of their cases — Burbank, Glendale — sister courthouses to the Pasadena courthouse.
Plea Agreements with Prosecutors
If you've been arrested by Pasadena PD, LAPD — whatever the case may be — and you've got a case pending there, you obviously want to get an attorney who has experience there.
Because most criminal cases that someone is arrested for and the prosecutors decide to file end up being resolved by way of some sort of a plea agreement. So, that means your criminal defense attorney has to have experience dealing with the prosecutors in Pasadena. Otherwise you're going to have a big problem.
I can't tell you how many times I've seen people go into the Pasadena courthouse and they're criminal defense attorneys, but they don't know what they're going.
They don't have local experience to be able to know what the tendencies are of the judges and the prosecutors there and how things work.
The city of Pasadena is covered by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office and they're like a corporation with the power structure. So, if you're trying to resolve a case for a client, you have to know how that power structure works — who to talk to.
Preparation of Mitigation Package
A lot of times what we'll do is put together what I call a mitigation package where we're basically showing the prosecutors the good things about you. Your job, your family, things that you've done in your life such as voluntary work, a charity, or maybe your part of some sort of a religious organization.
Whatever the case may be, what we're looking for is to be able to show the other side of you because unfortunately, what I've seen the police do is they're kind of painting a picture of you as someone who's bad and should be punished.
Whereas, we want to paint a picture of you that whatever happened is an aberration and is not going to happen again.
So, if you have a case that's in the Pasadena courthouse and you were arrested in the city of Pasadena, pick up the phone. Ask to speak to Ron Hedding. I can talk to you over the phone. We can meet in person. I enjoy meeting with people and trying to help them.
This is what I'm good at and what I enjoy doing. So, I stand at the ready to help you and I will do everything I can to help protect your rights, your future and your freedom.
Hedding Law Firm is a criminal defense law firm located in Los Angeles County at 16000 Ventura Blvd #1208 Encino, CA 91436. Contact us for a free case evaluation at (213) 542-0979.
