Violent Crime Felonies In Los Angeles
When it comes to violent crimes in Los Angeles, a definition of these is basically when you're doing some physical harm to another person. Of course, these violent crimes can come in all different forms – people using weapons to take other people's property away, individuals getting in fights, using their car to commit assault or violence against other people.
Gang people use violence all the time in order to commit the crimes they are charged with.
So, the bottom line is the reason that the definition of a violent felony in Los Angeles is so important because these crimes are treated the most harshly by the police, the prosecutors, and the judges.
As a criminal defense attorney, I'm looking to try to differentiate whatever it is my client did from the definition of one of these violent crimes having to do with injuring somebody, damaging them, harming them, threatening them, causing fear. These are the types of things that will cause the worst punishments to come out.
Most violent crimes in Los Angeles are going to be treated as strikes pursuant to the Three Strikes Law of California, which means anybody convicted of one of these violent felonies in Los Angeles is going to be sentenced to 85% of their time.
They're going to get only part of the good time/work time. They're only going to get 15%. So, obviously, this is huge, especially in the county jail where most people are only serving 10% to 25% of their time, as I post this information on my website.
But the people who are convicted of violent felonies are not going to be able to go under this formula and will usually serve most of the time that they are sentenced to.
Consequences of a Violent Crime Conviction
The policy behind these violent felonies being treated so harshly is that these are – from the authority's vantage point and even the judge's vantage point – these are the worst offenses.
These are the people who are causing damage and harm to the community and individuals within the community, so they're going to treat them the worst and try to punish them send them to prison, and take away their rights.
This includes the right to bear arms, the right to possess and use ammunition, the right to vote – the list goes on and on. So, you definitely do not want to be convicted of one of these violent felonies if you can avoid it.
As far as trying to get a lesser conviction for a non-violent felony and a lesser punishment as well, you're going to want to be able to show a number of crucial factors. Number one that you didn't hurt anybody, or if you did hurt somebody, that you're going to make them whole. You're going to help them. You're going to pay for their damages.
You're going to try to help them get back to where they were before whatever you did caused this damage. That's one of the key things you can do to show that it's not a violent felony or that you don't fall under the policy of punishing the person as viciously as the authorities possibly can.
So, if you can pay restitution to the victim and help the victim return to the place they were before the crime was committed, you'll stand a strong chance of avoiding some of these harsh penalties.
Defenses for Violent Crimes
Another thing I see in these violent felonies in Los Angeles is that sometimes they are overrated, overfiled, and overcharged. The other party is so angry with the defendant in the case that they're making up a bunch of stuff, embellishing their story.
As a defense attorney who has done this for twenty-five years, the crucial thing that I do is get your story across. I'm going to tell them. Listen, this is not exactly what happened. The truth lies somewhere in the middle. Not everything that the alleged victim said is true, and we need you to hear my client's version of events.
Let's hear what they have to say about exactly what happened so that we can get a fair resolution to the case and that this violent felony doesn't remain on your record for the rest of your life. We need to set things up so that in the future, you will not have this violent felony on your record, and you can move forward in a positive light.
So, one crucial thing that your criminal defense attorney should do when it comes to a violent crime is set things up so that you can get a lesser charge, so your record can somehow be cleared or lessened, so that you can stay out of prison.
You can eventually move on from the criminal justice system in a positive light and avoid some of these horrible things that come along with a violent felony in LA.
