The prevalence of great bodily injury allegations across Los Angeles County is a serious matter. These allegations now carry significantly more weight than before. If you're accused of causing a great bodily injury, it's considered a strike. This elevates the crime to a violent felony, mandating the individual to serve 85% of the sentence.
So, great bodily injury, or GBI, is not a crime in and of itself. It's an allegation that goes along with a crime. So, under California Penal Code Section 12022.7, it basically adds an extra three years on the back of any sentence that a person gets for a crime. And as indicated above, it makes any crime that it attaches to, a strike. So, if you plead to a certain crime that normally would not be a strike. You have to admit a great bodily injury allegation that makes the case a strike, and it's a violent felony, and you must serve 85% of the time in a California state prison.
So, the great bodily injury allegations are very serious in criminal defense in Los Angeles. You want to avoid them at all costs. How the people prove a great bodily injury allegation is, number one, they have to show that the defendant in the case actually is the one that caused a great bodily injury and not some other force or some other person, or the individual themselves causing their great bodily injury allegation.
So, causation is definitely an issue when it comes to GBI allegations. The second concern you should have if you're charged with a great bodily injury allegation in Los Angeles is three extra years in prison because that adds extra time to it. It almost forces the underlying crime to cause you to get a prison sentence.
So, it's impossible to get a probationary sentence on the underlying crime and then get three years for the GBI. That forces you to go to prison. Usually, the prosecutors are talking about prison time for the underlying crime as well.
Now, the people actually have to prove that you caused great bodily injury. So, some simple injury pain and suffering, a sore neck, a sore back, that's not going to be a great bodily injury. They're going to need some significant, serious injury, like a broken bone or a severe concussion, and a lot of times, this becomes a bone of contention in criminal defense — whether the injury is really serious enough to qualify as a great bodily injury allegation.
Stay the Sentence on Great Bodily Injury
Another huge issue when it comes to GBI allegations in LA criminal courts is how we are going to resolve the case. What are we going to do? Sometimes, we can get the prosecutors to have you admit the great bodily injury allegation but not give you three years for it. So, in other words, they stay the sentence on the great bodily injury.
Obviously, this is a very powerful remedy if you can get it done because then you don't have to serve three years in prison, and often, you can get probation on the underlying case. So, if you can get them to do this, then you're in a very solid position.
The only problem with this — if you admit a GBI allegation, even though you don't actually get hit with the three years, that causes the charge itself to become a strike, and when you have that strike on your record, you can't get that strike off. You cannot reduce the case down to a misdemeanor.
That's one downside of having to admit a great bodily injury allegation. So, a lot of times, what I'm trying to do is get them to strike the great bodily injury allegation or get rid of it so my client doesn't actually have to admit it, take any more time for it, or get that bad energy related to it because of the strike allegation pursuant to the three strikes law in California. The 'three strikes law' is a law that imposes harsher sentences on repeat offenders.
If you or a loved one is facing a crime with a great bodily injury allegation, it's crucial to seek expert advice. Consult with someone like me, who has twenty-five years of experience in this field and can provide insight into the evolution of GBI charges and the best defense strategies available today.
