Strategy for a Criminal Case in Pomona Superior Court
I've been practicing in the Pomona courthouse, defending clients in criminal matters for the past 26 years. They have their little system there. Pretty much all of the felony cases run through the department. F. That's their hubcourt.
You come there, enter our not-guilty plea, and stay in department F until you set the case for a preliminary hearing. The day your case is set for a preliminary hearing, you come to department F, and they will find an open preliminary hearing court.
The same thing happens after the preliminary hearing: You're going to be sent back to Dept. F and await trial, and eventually, if your case goes to trial in a felony criminal case in the Pomona Superior Court, you'll be sent to a trial court.
While sitting in Dept. F, you can file motions, which we sometimes do. The motions will usually be sent out to be heard in one of the other courtrooms. Again, Dept. F is operating as a hub court.
So, those people who are worried about who the judge is in the Department, you really don't need to worry about that because your attorney is usually going to negotiate with the District Attorney's office. They're the ones who filed the case and can change the charges in the case, so any negotiating or plea bargaining is typically done with the District Attorney's office.
Negotiation with Prosecutor
There are some exceptions where you want to get a judge involved in the negotiation and try to convince the judge that the prosecutors are not being fair or not being reasonable. Therefore, the judge should intervene and give a more favorable resolution to your client.
So, I would need to know the lay of the land. For many years, the district attorney's office in Pomona court was known as one of the toughest, and I don't really know the answer to that.
My speculation—having done it for a long time—is that Pomona has a high volume of crime. I think the District Attorney's office there was mentally tough on crime to try to quell the problem of people committing crimes and doing things that they shouldn't.
So, as I write this post in 2020, I'm giving you a little peek at the inner workings of the Pomona courthouse as it relates to criminal cases. Of course, they do civil cases as well. However, I mainly do criminal defense, so that's what I'm zeroing in on. As I speak now, the management of the District Attorney's office is reasonable.
It can definitely be worked with, and you can discuss cases with them, which is important because if you don't have that, it makes it very difficult to resolve criminal cases in Pomona or anywhere else.
Developing a Defense Strategy for Best Outcome
So, if you have a case in the Pomona case, you've come to the right place. I have some good strategies depending on exactly what you're charged with as far as dealing with the prosecutors. If the case does have to go to trial, I think there can be a pretty good jury pool there if you pick the right jurors.
There is a group of conservative jurors that you probably want to stay away from. If you see that jurors are not going to be fair and impartial in your case and you want to try it in the Pomona courthouse, obviously, you're going to have to devise a strategy to prevent them from being able to rule on your case.
You're entitled to the fact that in any jury trial, in Pomona or anywhere else, if you don't think a juror will be fair in your case, you don't choose that juror. You pick somebody else who you think will be fair and impartial. So, pick up the phone if you've got a case in Pomona. Make the call. We'll discuss it and get a good game plan together.
