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Determining Which Jurisdiction

For those who do not know, Los Angeles County is divided into thirty different courthouses. It's a vast area from Lancaster to Long Beach, Malibu, and Pomona.

So, it's a gigantic jurisdiction, and really, every single location has its borders. Wherever the crime occurs, that's where the case is going to be prosecuted. Now, there are exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, if a case is committed in the Pomona jurisdiction, for example, then the case is going to be prosecuted in the Pomona court.

Some exceptions I see to this jurisdictional rule are in sex crime cases, for example. The central downtown sex crime prosecution is all done through Los Angeles County. Most of the time, if it's a severe sex crime, it's going to be prosecuted downtown.

That being said, each jurisdiction has its sex crime unit. It's exciting. I've talked to many District Attorneys about when a sex crime case will be prosecuted downtown and when it will be charged in another jurisdiction. The answer is not clearly defined.

It's just pretty much where law enforcement—the sheriffs or the Los Angeles Police Department—takes the case, and then they decide whether they want to deal with that particular matter in that jurisdiction.

High-Profile Cases Prosecuted Downtown Los Angeles Court

Beyond that, I see jurisdiction rules being broken in other cases, such as high-profile, celebrity, or serious cases. Those cases will typically be prosecuted downtown.

A perfect example is the OJ Simpson murder case. That case occurred in Santa Monica, but Santa Monica's criminal court was open then, yet they prosecuted it downtown and lost.

The civil case was prosecuted in Santa Monica, and they got a judgment. The prosecutors sometimes make stupid moves because the downtown jury pool is probably the best jury pool for defendants in a criminal case.

So, if it's a celebrity, they'll often prosecute that case downtown. If it's a police officer, they have a whole unit in downtown Los Angeles. There are a bunch of exceptions to this jurisdictional rule. Mostly, it will go to the court where the crime occurred.

Change of Venue for Los Angeles County Criminal Cases

I'll often get clients where their family says, I wouldn't say I like this venue. This courthouse stinks. They're mean. They're out to get me, and I don't want the case prosecuted here. The defense needs to have control over the venue.

The only time the defense has any arguments related to the venue change in California is if media coverage has tainted a potential jury pool. In other words, many people know about a particular case; they've seen the defendant or heard stories about it, so the person simply cannot get a fair trial.

For your criminal defense lawyer to change a venue, they'll have to show that serious stuff is going on and that the defendant cannot get a fair trial.

You can't just say the defendant can't get a fair trial. You actually have to be able to show some evidence and some indications that a jury pool would be tainted—in other words, a jury pool would be inflamed and angry, already thinking an individual is guilty and, therefore, he cannot get a fair trial in Los Angeles County. Then you'd have an argument to change the venue.

So, this whole jurisdictional issue is essential because different courthouses handle different types of crime. Some harshly and much easier to get the best resolution in a case. That's one of the things that I'm looking at.

I know all the courthouses having practiced in them for twenty-five years, so when somebody comes into my office and says, I've got a severe case – an embezzlement case in Van Nuys, for example – I'm going to know precisely how that's going to be handled, who the prosecutors are that we're going to deal with. This is crucial.

Defense Strategy Review of Your Case

When you sit down with your defense attorney, talk to him about who you think is going to handle this case. Is just a regular prosecutor assigned to that court going to deal with it, or are they going to assign it to one of the special units that they have?

Will the boss have to decide what my offer to settle the case is, or will just a regular prosecutor do that? What types of issues jurisdictionally and venue-wise can play into how the prosecutors and judge deal with a criminal case?

These are all important questions that your criminal defense attorney must answer. I have you come in. We sit down. We go over everything. We talk about it, and we decide exactly how we're going to handle this venue or jurisdictional issue, what defense strategies we're going to use, and how we're going to get you the best possible result in your criminal matter.

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