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Gang Sentencing Enhancement

Gang Sentencing Enhancement - Penal Code 186.22 PC

I do a lot of cases where the prosecutors charge a crime against somebody, and then they tack on the back of it a gang enhancement. This puts a defendant in a terrible position. A lot of these gang enhancements carry some serious prison time. The enhancement is described under California Penal Code Section 186.22.

The biggest one carries a ten-year prison sentence tacked on top of whatever the defendant gets in Los Angeles County for the offenses they're charged with. So, these gang enhancements are severe, and it's the legislature's response to gang violence where people are being killed, and drugs are being sold on the streets.

Gang members are attacking the citizens of this country, and basically, the legislature has said we're going to put a stop to it. We will put these gang members away for many, many, many years.

Association With a Gang

My concern, though, is sometimes my clients get swept up in this whole gang argument, and they're not doing the things that the gang statute was meant to protect against.

However, my concern often lies with clients who are inadvertently caught up in the gang narrative. They may have a peripheral connection to a Los Angeles gang-perhaps they are an associate or they socialize with gang members. But this association can lead to serious charges such as robbery or pimping and pandering, all related to gang violence in Los Angeles County. The potential consequences, including multiple years in prison, are severe.

They're eighteen, nineteen, twenty years old. It's just unbelievable and sad, and that's where a reasonable criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles has to dig in and fight some of these charges where people are being charged with gang allegations. They really shouldn't be being charged with them.

Defenses And Mitigating Circumstances To Gang Allegations

One easy defense is that you're not a gang member. Unfortunately, this doesn't end the query. The next question becomes, are you an associate of the gang members? Do you hang out with them? Do you do the same things they do?

Because if you are, they can charge you just like the gang member and tack on all of these horrible repercussions, prison sentences, injunctions, and all the other things that gang members get hit within Los Angeles County.

The next question is, if you're not a gang member or an associate of a gang, are you involved with their activities? In other words, do you know what's going on? A lot of these gangs have a cache' of guns and cash and they have access to them anytime they want – to commit a robbery, to do some gang violence against another gang whether it be a drive-by shooting.

I've seen them execute plots to murder other gang members, so if you have anything to do with that or your loved one has anything to do with that in Los Angeles County, you're looking at a severe prison sentence where they are taking gang members out.

California Governor Review of Gang Enhancement Law

Thankfully, Governor Jerry Brown has taken a stand against these excessive sentences. He has pledged to review such cases, offering hope to those who are unjustly languishing in prison as gang members.

We will have parole hearings and look into some of these cases. It's not fair because people are just languishing in prison as gang members, and a lot of them were very young, did something stupid, had family, and didn't belong in jail for twenty, thirty, or forty years.

So, the bottom line is if you or a loved one is charged with one of these gang enhancements, you're going to have to get the best criminal defense attorney who is local to the courthouse where the case is pending, knows the prosecutors, knows the judges, knows what it takes to win a case and knows what it takes to mitigate a case because if you can't reduce a gang charge under §186.22, the client is looking at being sent to prison for many, many years without any relief.

Sure, you can get in the appeal process. Still, it takes a long time, and it's doubtful it will be successful unless you have thousands of dollars to spend on a great appellate lawyer who knows how to attack some of these gang allegations in Los Angeles County.

So, I have you come in, and we go over everything, and then I go out and meet the client. I'll review everything with him and see if they meet the requirements to charge somebody with one of these gang allegations in Los Angeles. If they don't, we're going to fight it tooth and nail and get them out of the criminal justice system as soon as possible.

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