Los Angeles is home to one of the world's most significant criminal justice systems , a fact that can be both impressive and overwhelming. The sheer number of prosecutors, judges, courthouses, and people involved in the system is a testament to its scale and complexity.
From a financial perspective, the criminal justice system and the courts in Los Angeles play a significant role in the city's revenue stream, contributing a substantial portion to the coffers of Sacramento.
Los Angeles has taken an interesting approach to resource management by consolidating its court system. With approximately forty courthouses in the past, many have been closed down, and the cases they would typically handle have been redirected to larger courthouses, a move aimed at saving money.
But it's interesting because each courthouse they closed down generated money in and of itself. So, I guess it's a long project that they're looking at to see if closing down to approximately twenty-five courthouses will generate more revenue.
Then the issue becomes how does that impact the criminal justice system in Los Angeles when you have a courthouse — for example, the Airport Court — taking all of the cases from Beverly Hills, Hollywood, and much of the west side of Los Angeles and even some of the instances from Malibu. That now drives a massive volume of cases there, and the prosecutors and judges must deal with that.
Largest Criminal Justice System Handling All Levels of Crime
The criminal justice system in Los Angeles is probably one of the more interesting in the world because it's a mass metropolis with people all over — all sorts of different levels of crime — whether it be a street crime like robbery, burglary, theft — or whether it be more sophisticated money-related offenses like white collar offenses. There are all sorts of different things going on on the internet, and there are gun-related offenses.
So, suppose you have a case in the Los Angeles criminal justice system, and you're trying to figure out how to tackle it. In that case, your first step is to get to an attorney who knows the system and has handled cases similar to yours in the jurisdiction where your case is pending.
That lawyer will save you a lot of time and aggravation trying to figure things out when they've already been through exactly what you're about to go through and come out the other end successfully. So, they can give you a vision of what a successful result will be in a criminal case you might have pending.
But to give you an idea of how the system works, somebody gets arrested, and depending on where they're arrested, which courthouse their case is sent to will dictate which courthouse they are sent to. So, that's why when people call me and say they have a case in Los Angeles and need a quote for a fee, the first thing I ask is which court the case is in.
Believe it or not, some people don't even know. They don't even realize it. They think Los Angeles is Los Angeles; meanwhile, they don't realize there are twenty-five courts now in Los Angeles. Which court the case is in is going to be important because some of the courts are more conservative than others depending on what the offense is or what the crime is that the person is charged with.
It will be easy for me to determine which court it's in because I will also ask where the incident occurred. And depending on where the incident occurred, that will dictate where the courthouse is located. So, if it happened in the San Fernando Valley, the case would be in Van Nuys. If it happened in Santa Monica, the case would be in the Airport Court.
Criminal Case Process
The criminal case process can be daunting. Understanding where your court is, the possibility of being arrested, and the subsequent procedures is crucial. This knowledge can help you prepare and navigate the process more effectively.
You'll be prosecuted and enter your plea. You'll be given the discovery and paperwork in the case, and then your attorney will be able to deal with your particular case.
The other thing that can happen is you can be given bail on the case, post the bail, and then you'll get out. They typically give you a court date within thirty to forty-five days, and then you'll appear with your attorney. You'll enter your plea.
Believe it or not, sometimes the police get the bail wrong, and the prosecutors, who are the lawyers who deal with criminal cases, may argue for a higher bail. So, you'll want your attorney there to challenge that and get the lowest bail possible or at least get the bail you already posted so you don't go into custody and have to dish out more money related to your offense.
If it's a misdemeanor case, a lot of times you'll just be given a ticket, and it will say at the bottom which court your case is going to be in, and then you'll be able to go to that court with your attorney, or a lot of times on misdemeanor cases, your attorney can appear for you.
First Court Appearance is an Arraignment
Once you appear in court, the first court appearance is called the arraignment. You will enter your plea — either not guilty, guilty, or no contest. Sometimes, the arraignment is even continued, and no plea is entered depending on what your attorney wants to do — their strategy depends on which courthouse, judge, and prosecutor is involved in the case.
Your attorney will usually get the bulk of the paperwork related to your case — the arrest reports and whatever else they have. If there are blood results, DNA, or video evidence, sometimes the prosecutors don't have that at the first court appearance, so we usually write them a letter.
If we can see there's stuff out there for our client, then we'll let them know that we want to get our hands on that stuff, and they must get it from the police and turn it over to the criminal defense attorney so we can review that and prepare the case.
Once we have all of the discoveries and have reviewed them, we'll be able to start talking about the case — getting a strategy together — and figuring out exactly how we will handle the case.
Developing a defense strategy with your lawyer is a critical step in your case. It's not just about understanding the process, but also about actively engaging in your defense. This proactive approach can significantly impact the outcome of your case.
Whether we're going to take an offensive approach where we try to attack the prosecutor's case and get it dismissed, or whether we realize that the prosecutors have good evidence against you and we're going to try to take more of a damage control approach where we're trying to gather things in mitigation and negotiate with the prosecutors.
Once that's decided, the case will go into whatever posture we've decided to handle the case. We can move forward and either pursue getting the case into a trial mode or getting it keyed up so we can negotiate with the prosecutor, resolve it, and get you set up to get out of the criminal justice system as fast as possible.
