California Criminal Lawyers Blog

As Placentia medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers, we were disappointed to see yet another article about police agencies citing and harassing a lawfully operating medical marijuana dispensary. The Riverside Press-Enterprise reported April 26 that the cities of Corona and Norco have cited a couple for running a medical marijuana dispensary out of their converted motor home. Helen Cherry, 60, and her husband, Stewart Hauptmann, run the Lakeview Collective, which parks near the offices of doctors who write recommendations for medical marijuana. They are facing citations from police in the two cities for operating a dispensary and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Norco and Corona ban dispensaries altogether within their city limits. This is a widespread practice in Southern California and one that is already being challenged in a patients' lawsuit against the city of Anaheim. A spokesperson for the Norco police also used a controversial legal argument when he said no dispensary, including Lakeview, is legal in California because it is not a nonprofit organization. The owners and their attorney dispute that characterization, with Cherry telling the newspaper that her collective does not serve "18-year-old stoners." A medical marijuana patient herself, Cherry started Lakeview after visiting a Los Angeles clinic to fill a prescription for back pain. The clinic did not look legitimate, she said, so she found some doctors to team up with and started her own collective, one that she said is aimed at taking care of people.

Cherry and Hauptmann said they plan to fight the citations and also challenge the zoning laws that ban dispensaries altogether. As Rancho Cucamonga medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys, we wish them luck. We believe that dispensaries are legal according to the guidelines issued by the state Attorney General, which say only that a collective or cooperative should be not for profit -- not what structure it should take. We also believe that law enforcement officers who say otherwise are attempting to harass medical marijuana dispensaries out of business because they just don't like the idea. Note that Cherry and Hauptmann are also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, something that's clearly connected to their business. If law enforcement officers don't like medical marijuana, they should take it up in the legislature and leave law-abiding patients alone.

Continue reading "Mobile Medical Marijuana Dispensary Cited by Cities of Norco and Corona" »

An unusual intoxicated driving arrest caught the attention of our Long Beach DUI criminal defense attorneys. According to an April 27 article in the Orange County Register, a North Hills man was arrested that day after police found him unresponsive in a stopped car sitting in the southbound lanes of Interstate 405. Kent Lespravsky, 37, was unresponsive when officers arrived, then refused to cooperate and leave the vehicle. The incident caused police to block three lanes of the freeway for safety reasons, triggering backups that reached all the way into Los Angeles County from the site near the Seal Beach Boulevard exit.

CHP officers were driving through the area when they found Lespravsky's Toyota stalled in the number-three lane of the freeway. They stopped to check on him, but originally found him unresponsive and said he seemed sedated. The officers then tried to move Lespravsky out of the car, but he "became combative," according to a CHP spokesperson, and officers used a Taser-like device to subdue him. Paramedics who were called to the scene also helped to sedate him, the article said. He was then transported to Los Alamitos Medical Center for treatment of bruises to his head; the CHP said they weren't sure how he was bruised. A CHP officer was injured as well. Lespravsky was arrested for suspicion of DUI, assault on an officer and disobeying a lawful order. The freeway was cleared by 12:39 p.m.

As Anaheim drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, we hope the officers obtain a blood test before they go through with the DUI charge against Lespravsky. If he was under the influence of drugs, as the article suggests, prosecutors will need to show that he was actually under the influence -- meaning so drugged that he couldn't operate a vehicle normally or safely. There's no legal limit in cases of drugged driving, which is both good and bad for defendants charged with this type of DUI. Prosecutors may try to argue that the presence of any intoxicating drug in the defendant's blood is enough to impair him or her, but an experienced attorney can and should fight that presumption. The important question is whether the driver was impaired by any drug. It's also worth noting that Lespravsky may only have fought the officers because he was woken from sleep and confused -- not because he intended to disobey them.

Continue reading "Driver Arrested on Suspicion of DUI After Stopping Car on 405 Freeway" »

Our Costa Mesa domestic violence criminal defense attorneys were interested to see a very public fight going on between a celebrity couple in Huntington Beach. Former pornography actress Jenna Jameson has accused her boyfriend of four years, mixed martial arts fighter Tito Ortiz, of physically attacking her. The Orange County Register reported April 27 that Jameson's father reportedly called police around 10 a.m. on April 26 to report that a man had pushed his girlfriend down. Ortiz was arrested and held at Huntington Beach city jail for part of the day, then released in the afternoon. He was not permitted to return to the couple's home because Jameson has an emergency protective order against him.

Ortiz and Jameson give different accounts of what happened. According to the Register, quoting celebrity gossip site TMZ, Jameson claims Ortiz pushed her into a bathtub after she said something that bruised his ego. She was wearing an arm brace when she left her home later the day of the incident, and claims she suffered two torn ligaments in her shoulder. She said she and the couple's twin sons, born in 2009, are all right, but that she will press charges. Meanwhile, Ortiz called a press conference Monday night, at which he and his domestic violence defense lawyer denied the allegations. He said Jameson has been addicted to prescription painkiller OxyContin for more than a year, and that the confrontation happened after he confronted her about finding some of the drug. He told the press that he wants to protect his family from the drug addiction he saw growing up.

Even though this is a high-profile couple, our Lake Forest domestic abuse criminal defense lawyers think this is a good example of how many charges of domestic abuse or spousal battery are "he said/she said" situations. If no one else was in the house but their one-year-old children, no one can provide strong evidence about whose version of the incident is more correct. In fact, even if Jameson's father was there, his testimony still may be suspect because of his natural bias toward his daughter. This means that both Ortiz and the prosecution -- if any charges are ultimately filed -- may have to use circumstantial evidence, such as a history of domestic violence or a record of multiple OxyContin prescriptions. That's why it's crucial for domestic violence defendants to get the help of an experienced attorney with building and proving a strong case.

Continue reading "Celebrity Couple Embroiled in Domestic Violence Case in Huntington Beach" »

As Westminster medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys, we were interested to read about a lawsuit against the Seal Beach Police Department for multiple alleged civil rights violations. John Roe, 28, claims officers used unreasonable force and unlawfully searched his apartment on March 1, 2008. The officers also confiscated some of Roe's property, including a 12-gauge duck hunting gun and a WWII-era military pistol as well as three marijuana plants he says were dying. Roe had a doctor's recommendation for the marijuana plants and was growing them legally for his own use, he says. He was charged with felony cultivation nearly two months after the incident, but the prosecutor's office later dismissed the charges. Roe had his guns returned in July of 2009, but claims he's still missing some other property, the Orange County Register reported April 21.

The police originally visited Roe in response to a phone call from his mother, Merry Roe, who lives in a small town in Kentucky. Police say Merry Roe told them John Roe had made a suicide attempt ten years ago and may own a handgun. John Roe disputes this, saying his mother was just concerned because he wasn't answering the phone, and expected the police to tell him to call her. Instead, Roe claims that when the police arrived at his apartment, they drew their guns and handcuffed him. In response to the lawsuit, an officer said Roe wouldn't comply with a first request to step out of the apartment, so he grabbed and handcuffed Roe. Any force used was reasonable, police said, because Roe provoked the physical contact. Roe's claim suggested that police may have responded negatively to his tattoos. He requested a third-party investigation as well as a jury trial for damages.

Our Bellflower medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers don't have enough information to say for sure whether the police's actions were justified. But judging solely by the information in the article, we think Roe has a strong case. In particular, we think it's telling that Roe was charged with cultivating marijuana, a felony offense, despite having a doctor's recommendation. Because Roe was following state law, the prosecution would not have been successful -- so it shows poor judgment by the police that charges were brought in the first place. Similarly, if the officer's statement that Roe refused to step out of his front door was the only physical provocation, police don't have much to justify their choice to restrain him. And the search of his apartment and confiscation, if it wasn't justified by the information the police had, would have been a violation of the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure.

Continue reading "Seal Beach Man Sues Police for Wrongful Search, Confiscation and Criminal Charge" »

A recent article about an unusual burglary caught the eyes of our Dana Point burglary criminal defense lawyers. The Orange County Register reported April 22 that two men were arrested for the April 17 burglary of a home in Santa Ana. Christian Fernando Cabrera and Cesar Valle, both 20, are accused of entering the home on foot, punching a man in the face and taking laptop computers, purses and personal items. They are also accused of demanding money from residents who they said were running a house of prostitution. It was not clear whether that allegation was true or whether the alleged burglars managed to get any cash.

Victims of the robbery said the three men entered on foot around 10 p.m. on April 17. In addition to the computers and purses, the men took eyeglasses, cosmetics and identification cards. Originally, all three had escaped the scene, but victims of the robbery happened to spot Cabrera in the area on April 20. Police officers responded and arrested him on the street. Later, gang detectives were at the gang, speaking to victims about the robbery about the vehicle involved in the robbery. One of the victims pointed out a vehicle passing by that was similar, but then realized it was the same vehicle with one of the same people inside of it. That led to the arrest of Valle. Detectives immediately got into their own vehicle, called for assistance and arrested Valle without incident.

What interests our Corona burglary criminal defense lawyers about this case is the allegation that the house was used for prostitution. This would not be a defense to a charge of burglary, of course, but it might change the charges the arrested men face. California's burglary law is divided into first-degree residential burglary, which is a felony, and second-degree burglary, which is any other kind of burglary. If the alleged burglars are right that the home was being used for prostitution, they may be able to argue that a charge of first-degree burglary is inappropriate. To qualify for a first-degree burglary charge, the building that was entered must be currently used as a dwelling. If nobody lives full-time at the home in question, it may not count as a dwelling. This could lower the charges faced by Cabrera and Valle to second-degree burglary, which can be a felony or a misdemeanor, and carries no more than one year in jail or prison.

Continue reading "Two Men Arrested for Home Invasion Robbery of Alleged Brothel" »

Our Los Angeles County DUI criminal defense attorneys were interested to see that a former football player was recently arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. Television station KTLA reported April 21 that Corey Dillon, a running back for the Cincinnati Bengals and the New England Patriots between 1997 and 2006, was booked on suspicion of drunk driving early in the morning of April 21. Dillon was taken into custody at 3:40 a.m. near Mulholland Drive and the 101 Freeway, near the city of Calabasas. He will appear to answer the citation on June 21 at the Malibu courthouse of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

According to the article, Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies first spotted Dillon's vehicle around 3:40 a.m. on the morning of the arrest. Two deputies were driving north on Mulholland when they saw a red Chevrolet Camaro with paper dealers' plates driving slowly behind them. They conducted a traffic stop "to verify the vehicle's registration," according to a spokesman for the sheriff's office. Inside the car, they found Dillon, 35, and an unnamed passenger. Dillon displayed signs of being under the influence and admitted to the officers that he had been drinking earlier in the evening. The officers booked him on suspicion of DUI, but released him to await further legal proceedings. The passenger was not cited.

As Cypress drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, we're interested in several aspects of this story that might help Dillon defend the DUI charge. Most importantly, the article doesn't mention whether Dillon took a breath or blood test. A blood-alcohol concentration test is not necessary to convict someone of DUI in California, but it provides much stronger evidence than the officer's judgment alone. Without one, prosecutors have to argue that the driver was "impaired," and it's difficult to provide objective evidence of impairment. We might also be interested in examining whether the deputies were justified in making the traffic stop in the first place, because "verifying the registration" sounds like a concern that could apply to any brand-new car that doesn't yet have plates. If a traffic stop is not legally justified, all of the evidence it generates is tainted and must be thrown out.

Continue reading "Former NFL Player Corey Dillon Arrested in Calabasas for Driving Under the Influence" »

As Paramount homicide criminal defense attorneys, we were interested to see that prosecutors have withdrawn a plea deal in a high-profile stabbing case. The rare move comes in the case of Abdullah Wahihi, 22, who is accused of stabbing Andre Murillo, 22, a basketball player for Concordia University. The Orange County Register reported April 16 that prosecutors changed their minds on the plea bargain after Murillo discovered that Wahidi would spend only six months in jail after pleading guilty to assault with a deadly weapon. The deal would have dropped a charge of attempted murder. A spokesperson for the district attorney's office said the original deal was offered based on the facts and the office's understanding of Murillo's position, but when it found out he did not support the deal, the office decided for prosecution instead.

Wahidi, of West Hills, is a member of the Afghanistan National Basketball Team. He is accused of stabbing Murillo, now 19, outside of a party last April 26. Murillo suffered a 3.5-inch knife wound that deflated one lung and nicked his heart. The would required four surgeries and was complicated by pneumonia and a 40-pound weight loss, but Murillo is now back with Concordia's basketball team. Wahidi was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, plus sentence enhancements for use of a deadly weapon and causing great bodily harm. Under the plea deal, however, he would only have been sentenced for the assault charge. When explaining its decision, the district attorney's office cited Marsy's Law, a victims' rights law that gives crime victims the right to confer with prosecutors about pretrial disposition of the case, among other things.

Our Lake Forest murder criminal defense lawyers were drawn to this story because it's unusual for prosecutors to cancel a plea bargain. Marsy's Law does not give crime victims the power to revoke prosecutions, just the right to stay informed and voice their opinions. We don't know the circumstances behind the charges, so we can't say whether the plea bargain was fair. However, we do know that an attempted second-degree murder charge, which is what Wahidi most likely faces, carries a sentence of five, seven or nine years in prison. Felony assault with a deadly weapon carries two to four years. These are without the sentence enhancements, which add time in prison. That means the discarded plea deal would likely have been much better for Wahidi. It might also have been better for the California justice system, which is already so overwhelmed that nonviolent prisoners are being released early.

Continue reading "Prosecutor's Office Withdraws Plea Bargain After Victim Objects to Sentence" »

Our Placentia medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys were interested to see that a double DUI manslaughter case recently ended in a mistrial. On April 15, the Orange County Register reported that the case of Trevor Mark Coffman, 38, will have to be retried later in 2010 or 2011. Jurors in Coffman's case couldn't agree on whether he was guilty of two counts of negligent vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, for the deaths of Frank Howd, 62, and Catherine Malloy, 72. In addition, the crash left Howd's wife, Sally Lee Howd, with a broken skull and broken ribs that kept her from walking unassisted for six weeks afterward. Prosecutors claimed that Coffman was both drunk and high on marijuana when he crashed into Howd's stopped car on Interstate 5.

The crash took place late on the night of March 15, 2007. Howd and his wife, Sally Lee Howd, had traveled to the Los Angeles International Airport to pick up Malloy. As they made their way home, a Toyota in front of them was hit by a driver who left the scene. The disabled Toyota ended up facing the wrong way in the carpool lane, and Howd's Volvo hit it. Coffman's Ford F-150 then rear-ended the Volvo at high speed. Two tests of Coffman's blood-alcohol level found it was 0.099 and 0.105, and a blood test found marijuana in his system. Coffman argued that he is a legal medical marijuana user who did not smoke the night of the crash, and that other tests showed his BAC was under the legal limit. He told the court the accident happened so fast that he didn't have time to stop.

As Pomona marijuana criminal defense lawyers, we suspect that this jury deadlocked because Coffman really did present a strong defense. OCNN reported that a defense expert testified that Coffman's BAC was closer to 0.066, which is under the 0.08 legal limit, and that the marijuana in his system did not impair him. The article doesn't say why, but it's widely known that inactive marijuana-related substances called cannabinoids stay in blood for about a month, meaning that people who are not at all intoxicated can still test positive for marijuana use. If the expert was correct about both the marijuana and the alcohol, there would have been no evidence that Coffman was actually intoxicated. That evidence is a vital part of any prosecution for a DUI crime, because without it, it's much harder to prove that the accused was intoxicated. In this case, Coffman had to respond quickly to an unexpected accident on the road, which may also have influenced the jury.

Continue reading "Judge Declares Mistrial in DUI Vehicular Manslaughter Case With Medical Marijuana" »

A recent item about a minor sex crime caught the attention of our Redondo Beach sex crimes defense attorneys. The Orange County Register reported April 16 that Orange police arrested a man caught touching himself in the parking lot of a Stater Bros. grocery store. Responding to a phone call reporting a man masturbating inside a parked truck, police found Rick O. Gertonson, 54, performing that act. He was cited for lewd conduct in a public place and released to wait for a May 25 trial. This may have been Gertonson's second arrest for the crime, the Register said, because records show that someone with the same name was charged with lewd conduct in public in 2006.

Lewd conduct in public is a type of disorderly conduct charged against anyone "who engages in lewd or dissolute conduct in any public place or in any place open to the public or exposed to public view," or solicits someone else to do so. It is charged against people engaging in sex acts in public, including in a place exposed to public view, like a private car. Lewd conduct in public is a misdemeanor, which means it's punishable by up to a year in county jail, a fine of up to $1,000 or both. For nonviolent crimes like this one, courts will typically arrange some alternative sentencing that keeps offenders out of jail. That was the case with the 2006 conviction, in which the defendant was sentenced to 10 days of community service and two years of probation. If Gertonson is the same person, he may face steeper penalties this time because it's a second offense.

This is not the most serious sex crime we see as Laguna Hills sex offense criminal defense lawyers, and by itself, it does not qualify the defendant for sex offender registration. (That would change if the defendant is also convicted of indecent exposure, which is often charged with lewd conduct in public.) However, that doesn't mean it's fun for the accused. For one thing, an arrest for lewd conduct in public can be extremely embarrassing and may cause trouble at the defendant's workplace. A conviction can mean jail, probation, work release, community service, addiction counseling, a restraining order or even testing for STDs. A second or subsequent charge makes jail and other more severe penalties much more likely. If you're accused of this crime or another minor sex crime, it can have real effects on your life. You should call an experienced sex crimes defense attorney right away.

Continue reading "Man Arrested for Second Time for Lewd Behavior in Grocery Store Parking Lot" »

Our Irvine drunk driving criminal defense attorneys were interested to see that multiple local police agencies plan to run DUI roadblocks this weekend. The Orange County Register ran two different articles April 16 notifying drivers about a total of four checkpoints throughout the county, in Huntington Beach, Anaheim, Costa Mesa and Cypress. All of these will be conducted by the cities' own police departments. Three other cities in south OC -- Dana Point, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano -- will be the focus of DUI roving patrols by the Orange County Sheriff's Department. These are in addition to weekly patrols and warrant sweeps aimed at finding drunk drivers.

The south OC, Anaheim and Costa Mesa events will take place Friday evening and stretch into early Saturday morning, while the Huntington Beach and Cypress checkpoints are slated for Saturday night and early Sunday morning. The roving DUI patrols are focused on catching intoxicated drivers as they drive, and will focus on areas in the three cities that have a high rate of DUI accidents or arrests. The sobriety checkpoints, which will also be driver's license checkpoints, will stop all vehicles that pass through a designated area and check the drivers for signs of intoxication. Those who appear intoxicated are typically given a breath or blood test and put through field sobriety tests to see whether there's enough evidence for an arrest. All of the operations were funded by a state-administered federal grant.

As Ontario DUI criminal defense lawyers, we dislike sobriety checkpoints on principle as well as for practical reasons. At a DUI checkpoint, the police stop every vehicle, or one out of every few vehicles, regardless of whether they have a reasonable suspicion that the driver may be intoxicated. In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged that this violates our Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure. Incredibly, the court concluded that checkpoints are still permissible because they serve the state's interest in stopping drunk driving. Some defense attorneys call this the DUI exception to the Constitution. A more practical problem with the checkpoints is the evidence that they don't work well at increasing traffic safety. However, they do seem to be good for generating revenue for local governments. In fact, they have recently begun to attract criticism for finding more unlicensed drivers than drunks, allowing them to impound vehicles and collect high impound fees.

Continue reading "Orange County Municipalities Planning Sobriety Checkpoints This Weekend" »

Our Fountain Valley rape criminal defense attorneys were disappointed to see that two law enforcement officers have been charged with the kidnap and rape of a woman from a mall parking lot. The OC Weekly reported April 7 that Anthony Nicolas Orban, a Westminster police detective, is facing four counts of various types of sexual assault, as well as charges of kidnapping and making criminal threats. Jeffrey Thomas Jelinek, a correctional officer at the Chino Institution for Men, is charged with being an accessory after the fact as well as rape and kidnapping. Jelinek is not accused of the actual rape, but a spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County district attorney's office said he was charged because he helped Orban, the actual alleged rapist. Both defendants are on paid leave from their jobs.

According to the weekly, the woman was approached by two men as she walked to her car. One of them pulled a gun, got into her passenger seat and ordered her to drive away, while the other stayed behind. At the direction of the gunman, the victim drove to a commercial area of Fontana, where the gunman ordered her to park and take off her clothes. He then raped her at gunpoint. After two hours, she managed to get away and call 911 from a local business. The attacker fled, but left the gun behind. Ontario police say that Orban called Jelinek around the same time, asking for a ride home from Fontana. Orban then called his wife to say he had lost his service revolver. The wife called Ontario police to report the gun missing. Fontana police officers investigating the rape traced the gun back to Orban. Ontario police believe this may not be the men's first crime, and asked anyone with information to call them at (909) 395-2908.

We'd like to discuss the rape and accessory charges against Jelinek. Under California's Penal Code, all persons who directly commit a crime or "aid and abet" in it are principals in the crime. Someone who "harbors, conceals or aids" a principal in a crime after it was committed is an accessory to the crime. The distinction between the two is vital because principals can be charged with the crime even when they merely aided and abetted in it. For Jelinek, that means he faces a sentence of 25 years to life on the rape charge and up to 8 years for kidnapping. By contrast, an accessory is usually penalized by up to a year of incarceration, a fine of up to $5,000 or both. If we were Jelinek's Rancho Cucamonga sex crimes defense lawyers,we might focus some effort on showing that he was an accessory more than a principal, which would make him ineligible for the harsher sentences.

Continue reading "Police Detective and Corrections Officer Charged With Rape of Ontario Woman" »

As Orange DUI criminal defense attorneys, we were not at all surprised to read that Andrew Thomas Gallo has asked to move his trial. Gallo's trial has attracted a lot of publicity in Orange County because he is accused of drunk driving in the crash that killed 22-year-old Nick Adenhart, a promising pitcher for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The crash also killed 20-year-old Courtney Stewart and 25-year-old Henry Pearson, seriously injured Jonathon Wilhite, 24, and injured Raymond Alejandro Rivera. Gallo's charges include three counts of second-degree murder, DUI with great bodily injury, driving on a suspended license and hitting and running. He faces 50 years to life in prison if convicted on all charges, the Orange County Register reported April 1.

The accident happened April 9, 2009, in Fullerton, just hours after Adenhart started his fourth major league game. He was a passenger in a car driven by Stewart and also occupied by Wilhite and Pearson. As they proceeded through a green light, Gallo ran a red light and broadsided their vehicle. Stewart's vehicle slammed into a light pole and Stewart and Pearson died at the scene, while Adenhart died at the hospital. Wilhite's skull was severed from his spinal cord, but successfully reattached. He is now in intensive rehab. Rivera, Gallo's passenger, suffered minor injuries but Gallo, unharmed, fled the scene on foot. He was later apprehended and subjected to a test showing he had a BAC of three times the legal limit. (Tests also showed that Stewart had a BAC of 0.16.) Gallo had a prior conviction for drunk driving and did not have an active driver's license the night of the crash.

As Fontana drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, we wonder about the choice to charge Gallo with second-degree murder. The article notes that prosecutors charged second-degree murder rather than vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated because Gallo had a previous DUI conviction, which meant he knew drunk driving was wrong. However, murder may be a difficult charge to prove. California law defines murder as a killing "with malice aforethought." The circumstances suggest that Gallo didn't even know the victims, but the law permits prosecutors to find implied malice "when no considerable provocation appears, or when the circumstances attending the killing show an abandoned and malignant heart." The prosecutors are essentially arguing that this was shown by Gallo's choice to drive drunk a second time. That's a lot for the jury to swallow, especially when the lesser charge of gross vehicular manslaughter fits the circumstances so well.

Continue reading "Alleged Drunk Driver in Accident That Kills Angels Pitcher Requests Change of Venue" »

As Seal Beach medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers, we were disappointed to read that the operator of a Lake Forest dispensary has pleaded guilty to criminal drug charges. The OC Weekly reported April 6 that Steven John Wick, 26, pleaded guilty to state-law charges of possession of marijuana for sale and selling marijuana. Wick operated the Health Collective dispensary in Lake Forest until November of 2009. His manager, Marilynn Geneva Manuel, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of marijuana for sale. His co-owner, Tara Elizabeth Sorenson, 22, has been charged with three counts of selling marijuana and one count of possession of marijuana for sale.

Prosecutors in the case do not allege that Health Collective sold medical marijuana to people without a doctor's recommendation for it. However, they say state law does not allow medical marijuana sales from a dispensary. Instead, patients and their doctors must form collective or cooperative associations to grow and distribute the drug. The Health Collective defendants were accused of selling medical marijuana to customers with no cooperative or collective relationship with the dispensary. Wick's guilty plea will get him three years in prison, and a guilty plea expected in an earlier case is expected to get him another year. Manuel was sentenced to one year in prison, but the sentence was suspended as long as she completes three years of probation. Sorenson faces up to six years and eight months in prison if she is convicted on all counts.

Even though our Mission Viejo medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys support medical marijuana dispensaries, we understand why Wick and Manuel might have preferred a guilty plea. Wick's charges were the most serious, in part because his second set of charges came while he was out on bail from the first charges. Nonetheless, he is expected to serve less time than the maximum that Sorenson could face if convicted. A plea deal generally results in shorter sentences, but it also means prison, at least in serious cases, and a criminal conviction. In this case, there's a serious question about whether a crime was really committed. The guidelines set forth by California's attorney general, which are meant to guide law enforcement's actions, say explicitly that collective or cooperative storefront dispensaries may be legal as long as they follow the guidelines.

Continue reading "Medical Marijuana Entrepreneur Pleads Guilty to Selling Drugs" »

Earlier in this decade, the Gregory Haidl rape case was a major news story in Southern California. The case concerned three young men who were charged with the gang rape of an unconscious 16-year-old girl at Haidl's house in Corona del Mar. Greg Haidl, Keith Spann and Kyle Nachreiner made a videotape of the incident, which they showed to friends and eventually lost. When it surfaced, it became the basis for their prosecution. Our Santa Ana sex crimes defense attorneys followed the case in part because Haidl was the son of Don Haidl, an assistant Orange County sheriff, sparking allegations of favoritism. All three eventually convicted and sentenced to six years in prison. They have served their time, but appealed after release, the Orange County Register reported March 30, possibly because their convictions meant they would be registered as sex offenders for the rest of their lives. That appeal was rejected by the Fourth District Court of Appeal March 30.

The young men's appeal argued that the trial judge should have allowed last-minute evidence destroying the victim's credibility. They wanted to include testimony from Joey Cervantes, who said he'd had a similar consensual sexual encounter with the girl two weeks earlier, as well as evidence that she had been convicted of methamphetamine possession. The Court of Appeal rejected this argument for several reasons. Justice Richard Aronson wrote that the evidence was properly excluded and did not harm the young men's defense. They were still able to introduce evidence about her promiscuity, he wrote. Even so, whether she consented was not the issue, Aronson said, given that she was legally unable to consent because she was intoxicated and unconscious. Finally, the opinion noted that the videotape removes some questions of credibility, because it provides objective evidence that the girl was unable to exercise reasonable judgment at the time.

Our Ontario sex crimes criminal defense lawyers think this case is a fine reminder that for sex crimes, you're not done doing time even after you do your time. California sex offenders must register with the police immediately on release from prison or a hospital, then every year on their birthdays, every 90 days or every 30 days, depending on other circumstances. When they move or change their names, they must tell the local police within five days. Anyone with an Internet connection will be able to find the names of 75% of the offenders on the Megan's Law Web site, along with information about their locations. These requirements last a lifetime in most cases, and failing to meet any of them is a crime. It's not surprising that Haidl, Spann and Nachreiner might try whatever arguments they had to avoid sex offender status.

Continue reading "Defendants in Gregory Haidl Gang Rape Case Lose Appeal to Stay Off Sex Offender List" »

As Chino DUI criminal defense attorneys, we were very interested to read about the unusual investigation into intoxicated driving by a former chief of the Riverside Police Department. According to a March 22 story in the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Russ Leach was charged with two counts of DUI stemming from an incident early on Feb. 8. Leach's own officers pulled him over at 2:48 a.m. that day, after a red-light camera showed him running a red. He was also driving on the rims of his tires, having apparently hit an object that caused a blowout, which then damaged the fender and other parts of the vehicle. The Riverside officers said Leach had been drinking and was confused, but didn't perform a BAC test. Instead, they drove him home.

Riverside authorities are conducting an internal investigation into possible improprieties by the police department, but California Highway Patrol investigated the incident itself. According to that investigation, Leach had several beers during the afternoon of the Super Bowl on Feb. 7. These were not supposed to be combined with prescription medications he had taken, which included painkillers, antianxiety drugs, a muscle relaxant and possibly sleeping pills. After the game, however, Leach drove to a strip club in Colton, where surveillance video showed he had at least seven more drinks. An employee there told the CHP she offered to get him a taxi, concerned about his intoxication level. It was after Leach left the club that he was pulled over. Even without the BAC test results, the CHP found enough evidence to file DUI charges, thanks to surveillance video, witnesses and the officers' reports.

The newspaper is interested in the implication that the police department may have acted dishonorably in this situation, and that's worth looking into. But as Anaheim drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, we'd like to discuss the fact that the CHP filed charges without a BAC reading. In California, there are two ways to be charged with intoxicated driving. You can be charged with a "per se" violation for having a BAC of 0.08 or greater, but you can also be charged with driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. Unlike in some states, where a BAC test makes or breaks the case, prosecutors in California can build a case against you if they feel they have enough evidence to show you were under the influence. In the case against Leach, prosecutors apparently believe that witness testimony and circumstantial evidence like surveillance video from the club are enough to get a conviction.

Continue reading "CHP Investigation Finds Former Riverside Police Chief Should Be Charged With DUI" »