California Criminal Lawyers Blog

Our Huntington Beach drunk driving criminal defense attorneys were interested to see a recent article about a DUI that got thrown out of court. The Orange County Register reported June 22 that the drunk driving case against 54-year-old Patricia M. Power of Dana Point was thrown out after a video from her traffic stop contradicted the arresting officer's report. Power was pulled over in Newport Beach in May of last year, allegedly for driving without the required light for her car's license plate. Once Power was stopped, the officer noticed signs of intoxication and arrested her for DUI. But a video taken from the patrol car showed that Power's light was functioning.

Power said she'd just dropped off a friend near John Wayne Airport when the Newport Beach officer pulled her over. She later blew a 0.12 blood-alcohol content and was arrested and charged with DUI. In his arrest report, Officer Michael Moore said he pulled Power over because her license plate light was not working, but a publicly available DMV report said the squad car video "clearly demonstrated" that the light was working. That means Moore didn't have any reason to pull Power over, which makes the traffic stop illegal. The DMV reinstated Power's driver's license, saying there was no reasonable cause for her arrest, and the Orange Country District Attorney's office dropped the criminal charges against her. The city of Newport Beach also agreed to pay towing costs and attorney fees for Power. Power told the newspaper she thought she was pulled over just because she happened to be in a busy nightlife area.

As Placentia DUI criminal defense lawyers, we liked this story because it shows that police mistakes can set defendants free, even when the driver blew a high BAC reading. Power's case was dismissed because a traffic stop without a good reason violated her Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure. Because that traffic stop was illegal, all of the evidence it produced was illegal and had to be thrown out in order to protect her rights -- including the BAC test results. There was nothing wrong the those test results except for the major fact that they should never have existed in the first place. Some observers may feel that this is too kind to drunk drivers, but if officers were not required to follow the Fourth Amendment, they could pull over anyone for any reason at any time. Some officers are worthy of this trust, but we believe others are not and should not be given a chance to abuse their power at the expense of the Constitution.

Continue reading "Squad Car Video Contradicts Officer and Gets Drunk Driving Case Thrown Out" »

Our Santa Ana sex crimes criminal defense attorneys were interested to read that U.S. authorities have successfully extradited a man from Mexico to face serious criminal charges here. According to the Orange County Register, Daniel Morales was returned to Orange County this month after six years on the lam in Mexico. He is accused of attempting to rape an unnamed female relative and her child in Laguna Niguel in 2004. Mexican authorities found him in Mexicali, a city just over the border from Calexico in Imperial County east of San Diego. Morales is charged with attempted rape and attempted sodomy on the adult victim and attempted lewd acts on a child for the minor victim. He also faces charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. His first court appearance is July 16.

According to the FBI, Morales broke into the victims' home in March of 2004. As the adult victim attempted to reach the phone to call authorities, Morales allegedly tried to sexually assault her. He then allegedly pulled the phone from the wall to prevent a call to police. He then attempted to rape and sodomize her, the FBI said. After this, Morales is accused of tying the adult victim up with bedclothes while he also attempted to rape and sodomize a minor living in the home. It's unclear how they escaped, but Morales allegedly fled to Mexico to avoid criminal prosecution, and authorities found him in Mexicali this month. He is currently in the Men's Central Jail in Santa Ana awaiting trial. If convicted, Morales faces decades in federal prison.

One aspect of this case that caught the attention of our Corona sex crimes criminal defense lawyers is that Morales is mainly accused of attempted crimes. Attempted crimes are crimes that the accused intended to commit and took a direct step to commit, but did not succeed in. The penalty for an attempted felony in California is generally half of what the penalty would be if the crime had been completed. This could mean serious prison time in the case against Morales -- up to 12 years for attempted felony lewd acts on a child, felony forcible sodomy and felony rape. Failing to complete the crime is not a defense in itself, although defendants may be able to convince a jury that they chose not to complete it. In addition, we think this case shows that fleeing to Mexico is not a good idea in criminal cases. Mexico will extradite almost any defendant to the U.S. and enjoys the same privileges here, and people extradited will find that they now face an additional charge for fleeing.

Continue reading "Man Extradited to Orange County on Charges of Attempted Rape and Child Rape" »

As San Bernardino County DUI criminal defense lawyers, we were interested to see a news item about a man who was arrested for riding a bicycle while drunk. According to the June 22 Orange County Register, Lake Forest police arrested a 40-year-old man after noticing that he was riding in the wrong direction through a crosswalk and had trouble staying straight. Tito Pablo Alcanara-Carrasco had a blood-alcohol content nearly double the legal limit, which is a crime on a bicycle as well as on a car. California law gives bicyclists the same rights and responsibilities as drivers, including the responsibility to stay sober on the road. Alcanara-Carrasco was taken to Orange County jail, where he was cited but released.

Alcanara-Carrasco was spotted late on the night of June 19 by a sheriff's deputy working a special DUI patrol. The deputy saw the bicyclist crossing the road at a crosswalk, but very slowly and in the opposite direction from the flow of traffic. As the deputy got closer, he saw that Alcanara-Carrasco was weaving and had no light, which is a requirement for bicycling at night in California. The deputy stopped him and noticed a smell of alcohol on his breath, an unsteady walk and bloodshot eyes. In his jacket pocket, the deputy found a cold bottle of Tecate. A test of Alcanara-Carrasco's blood-alcohol content showed that he was at nearly twice the 0.08 legal limit, although the article doesn't say what kind of test was administered or the exact number. He was arrested and cited but released from law enforcement custody.

This article caught the attention of our Trabuco Canyon drunk driving criminal defense attorneys because it's rare to see a DUI arrest for someone on a bicycle. In fact, many Californians think it's impossible to be charged with drunk driving on a bicycle. Unfortunately, they're wrong. Drunk bicycling may be more likely to hurt the bicyclist than others, but bicyclists still have all the same legal responsibilities as drivers. However, readers may have noticed that Alcanara-Carrasco was cited and released from custody, suggesting that officers didn't think he posed a serious enough threat to keep him in jail overnight. This likely means he was charged with a misdemeanor. It's hard to discuss this case without knowing more about Alcanara-Carrasco's BAC level, but if he did choose to fight the case by going to trial, we believe the fact that he was bicycling could count in his favor before the jury.

Continue reading "Man Arrested in Lake Forest for Riding a Bicycle Under the Influence of Alcohol " »

If you've been following the fight over medical marijuana in Orange County, you may recall that the city of Lake Forest recently ordered all of the dispensaries within city limits to close. Our Riverside medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys are proud to say that we're a part of the fight by some dispensaries to stay open. As KPCC reported June 18, some dispensaries defied the late May order to close, causing lawyers for the city to seek a ruling holding them in contempt of court for failing to follow that order. Our partner, Damian J. Nassiri, represents one client that filed an appeal of that order last week, which means we've asked a higher court to reconsider whether the trial court's order was legally correct.

The problem stems from Lake Forest's attempt to use zoning law to drive out medical marijuana dispensaries. The dispensaries are legal under state law, but the city and many others in California have discovered that they can use city zoning laws to deny business permits to dispensaries. These cities claim they cannot license dispensaries because marijuana is illegal under federal law. Trial court have upheld this reasoning; the issue is currently before the California appeals courts. As a result, however, a court ordered the Lake Forest dispensaries to shut down. The one dispensary that remains in defiance of that order is our client, Lake Forest Wellness Center and Collective. As we noted in the Orange County Register, the city has not served our client with formal notice to shut down. We also believe that filing an appeal should stay the contempt order until a decision on the appeal is made.

As San Clemente medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers, we're sorry it's come to this. As Damon Harris told the newspaper, the collective has not violated state law, so it's unclear why the city believes it should leave. We believe city dispensary bans are an attempt to end-run around the Compassionate Use Act, which some cities, neighbors and police officers may dislike for their own emotional reasons. This would not be a sound basis for public policy that defies state law and the will of the votes. In addition to denying patients their legal medication, this means our clients could lose their businesses and all of the investment they put into them; and could also face criminal penalties for contempt of court or any "nuisance violations" the police can find to cite them for. In some cases, Californians who run legal dispensaries have even been charged with drug crimes, which carry years in state prison and can destroy a law-abiding person's life.

Continue reading "Lake Forest Dispensaries Defy Shutdown Order With Appeal to Higher Court" »

Our Mission Viejo vandalism criminal defense attorneys were interested to see an article about vandalism in a Trabuco Canyon park. The Orange County Register reported June 16 that Ronald G. Wells Park in Wagon Wheel Canyon sustained more than $16,000 worth of damage from vandalism last week. Police are looking for information on the crime, which will delay the opening of the park with brand-new equipment. A neighbor who saw the vandals and asked them to leave described them as three girls and two boys between the ages of 13 and 16. The vice president of the Wagon Wheel Community Association, Michael Browne, said the association would seek felony vandalism prosecution if the perpetrators do not confess.

According to the article, the vandals left shoeprints in rubber that was still drying, carved words into the rubber playground surface and dug up some of the shredded rubber underneath. They also broke trash cans and bent picnic tables and threw trash around the park and surrounding oak trees. Browne said the damage is estimated at more than $16,000, but the association plans to spend only $7,500 because it will simply add another top layer of rubber. It is also spending $1,000 a day on a security guard and adding temporary fencing. The neighbor who saw the vandals couldn't establish where they lived, but the association has already received names of possible suspects and referred them to the Orange County Sheriff's Department. A $500 reward is offered for more information. Browne said the association is willing to pursue charges even though it's expensive, because the vandalism upset a lot of residents.

As Orange vandalism criminal defense lawyers, we suspect that this was the work of teenagers who didn't think about the legal and financial consequences of getting caught. That's a shame, because felony vandalism prosecution can be serious. Vandalism creating more than $10,000 worth of damage is a "wobbler," which means it can be prosecuted as a felony or a misdemeanor, depending only on the judgment of the prosecutor. It carries up to a year in jail or prison and a fine of up to $50,000. If the perpetrators are minors, they may be sent to juvenile hall instead, and their parents may be held legally responsible for the fine. Courts may also sentence people convicted of vandalism to community service -- generally, cleaning up other people's vandalism. At best, this means a year or more of menial work, public embarrassment and no time for extracurriculars. At worst, it could mean juvenile detention that could expose these teens to the wrong peer group members and influences.

Continue reading "Teenagers Threatened With Felony Vandalism Charge for Damage to OC Park" »

Our Chino medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys wrote in late April about a medical marijuana dispensary in Riverside County that doesn't have a fixed home -- it's run out of a motor home. We're sorry to say that a follow-up article dated June 14 says the dispensary has been forced by threats of criminal prosecution to move out of the city of Norco and into an unincorporated part of Riverside County, where city ordinances don't exist. According to the Riverside Press-Enterprise, Stewart Hauptmann moved his Pace Arrow motor home out of Norco after being cited by police for possession of drug paraphernalia and operating a dispensary. He says he has not received additional citations or had other problems since the move.

The article uses Hauptmann and his Lakeview Collective to talk about the next legal battle facing California medical marijuana dispensaries: whether it's legal to run a mobile dispensary or a delivery service. We wrote briefly about this last week, when Republican candidate for district attorney Steve Cooley said he believed these businesses are not legal. In fact, the Compassionate Use Act doesn't address mobile sales, which means there's no clear guidance. But in the meantime, more dispensaries are going mobile like Hauptmann to avoid harassment or zoning law violations created by city dispensary bans. Hauptmann himself told the newspaper that he left Norco after city authorities threatened him and his wife with a restraining order. He would have had to mortgage his home to fight the legal battle, he said, so he decided to move, even though it may do a disservice to his patients.

As Anaheim medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers, we're disappointed to see that people like Hauptmann are being forced out of cities through legalized harassment. Hauptmann may have violated Norco's dispensary ban -- the article doesn't say -- but as far as we know, he's not in violation of state medical marijuana laws. And that's the only available test for whether his collective is a legitimate medical marijuana collective. Given all of that, threatening him with prosecution is legalized harassment, possibly motivated by neighbors or law enforcement officers with personal prejudices against marijuana. Note that Hauptmann was also cited for possession of drug paraphernalia. Law enforcement may have wanted to charge him with drug possession, sales or trafficking, but would not have been able to -- because at the end of the day, his collective is legal under state law.

Continue reading "Mobile Medical Marijuana Dispensary Forced to Move Because of Drug Citation" »

In March, our Lake Forest DUI criminal defense attorneys wrote about an Orange County sheriff's deputy who was arrested for intoxicated driving after causing two separate accidents about a half hour apart. That now-former deputy, Allan James Waters, was arrested and criminally charged June 9 in connection with the second accident. Waters was off duty and on paid administrative leave at the time of the crashes and is no longer working for the Sheriff's Department. He is accused of being intoxicated by prescription drugs when he ran his car into oncoming traffic, forcing a Toyota and his own car into a tree. The crash hurt Dolores Huerta, 78, who sustained a back injury and has since undergone surgery. Waters is also charged with drug crimes not directly connected to the crash.

An article about the arrest in the Los Angeles Times starts with the first accident Waters was involved in. On March 1 of this year, he rear-ended a car stopped for a red light in Dana Point. Orange County Sheriff's Deputies came to the scene and took an accident report, but did not arrest Waters. Deputies knew Waters was another deputy, the article said, but a sheriff's spokesman said they did not see any objective signs of intoxication. After leaving that scene, however, Waters drove so erratically that other motorists called 911 to report him. Shortly afterward, he crossed into oncoming traffic and hit Huerta's car. This time, sheriff's deputies called the California Highway Patrol to handle the accident, and the CHP found objective signs of intoxication.

Testing later showed that Waters was under the influence of prescription drugs Hydrocodone and Zolpidem. In fact, an investigation by the sheriff's department found that he had been selling a white powder meant to resemble cocaine in order to support his prescription drug habit. Waters is now charged with felony driving under the influence causing bodily injury, two felony counts of selling a substance in lieu of cocaine, with a sentence enhancement for causing great bodily injury. He faces up to seven years and four months in prison.

Most of the articles about this arrest focus on the possibility of wrongdoing by Orange County sheriff's deputies responding to the first crash, who may have let Waters go because he was a fellow deputy, not because he was sober enough to drive. Some readers might suggest that the outcome might have been much better for Huerta if the first set of deputies had detailed Waters rather than let him go on driving. But as Temecula drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, we believe the outcome would also have been better for Waters. A DUI charge is not a trivial thing, as law enforcement officers know all too well. But by letting Waters go, officers allowed him to cause the second accident, which not only got Waters in legal trouble, but also -- and more importantly -- injured an elderly woman. Now Waters faces a felony DUI with great bodily injury, a serious charge with substantial prison time, rather than a simple DUI that, if it was his first, would be unlikely to result in a prison sentence.

Continue reading "Former Sheriff's Deputy Criminally Charged for DUI Crash That Injured Woman" »

As Anaheim burglary criminal defense attorneys, we were interested to see a recent article about a home-invasion burglar who was caught by a postal worker and a neighbor to the home. According to a June 11 story from the Orange County Register, Michael Dean Hester, 50, was arrested June 4 after the mailman for the area, Harold Dade, surprised him in the act of burglarizing the home of Denise Davis. Davis was not home at the time. Dade and neighbor Scott Stone chased down Hester as he left the scene. Hester is now charged with two counts of felony burglary, one count of felony receiving stolen property and one count of misdemeanor resisting arrest. He has pleaded not guilty. Because he has a felony criminal record, the district attorney's office said a conviction could mean a third strike.

Dade told the newspaper that he regularly delivers mail to Davis's home, so he noticed when an unfamiliar bicycle showed up in front. As he approached the front door, he also noticed that the glass in the door had been broken with a brick and realized something was amiss. Then he looked up and saw a man. Dade said he thought each of them scared the other, and ran back to his truck to call the police. On his way there, he noticed Stone in a car slowing down for a stop sign and asked him to call the police. While Stone was making that call, Hester left on the bicycle, so Stone followed him to a local McDonald's. He was able to identify the man for police when they arrived. Davis praised Dade and Stone for being neighborly and involved. She recovered some, but not all, of the stolen goods, and believes that another burglar may be at large with the remaining goods.

Our Whittier burglary criminal defense lawyers are pleased that these neighbors are looking out for one another. However, we'd like to focus on the possibility that Hester will be convicted of a third strike under the three-strikes law, which always means a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. Hester's first felony convictions were for grand theft of vehicles and receiving stolen property. That was in 1991, before the three-strikes law was passed in 1994, but those felony convictions can still count as priors. However, it's not clear that any of Hester's prior felony convictions are "strikes," because strikes are always serious or violent felonies. For example, grand theft auto in itself is not a strike, but it would be if Hester used a firearm or other dangerous or deadly weapon. His second felony convictions in 1995, two counts of receiving stolen property, would not count as strikes. However, the residential burglary charge Hester now faces is a strike, so he certainly needs experienced legal representation.

Continue reading "Huntington Beach Postal Worker and Neighbor Hailed for Stopping Getaway by Burglar" »

Our Orange petty theft criminal defense attorneys were interested to see a brief item about two young men who are accused of stealing beer from a Lake Forest convenience store. As the Orange County Register reported June 10, sheriff's deputies were called to Mobile on the Run, the store, after a clerk saw two young men, ages 18 or 19, steal two packages of Budweiser. The suspects are described as white males with black hair, five feet four inches to five feet five inches, and 140 to 150 pounds. They were both wearing black shirts; one was wearing khaki shorts and the other was wearing black shorts. They reportedly fled in a white extended-cab pickup truck, along Portola Way to Lake Forest Drive. Anyone with information related to the crime is encouraged to contact the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Deputy Richard Nelson said these "beer runs" are common at convenience stores and grocery stores, which doesn't surprise us. As long as underage kids and young adults can't buy beer legally, some of them are going to make the unwise choice to steal it instead. The deputy also told the newspaper that this type of shoplifting is petty theft, but then went on to say that it can also be charged as burglary if prosecutors believe they can prove that the perpetrators went into the store with intent to steal. And that charge, he said, can be a felony. This interested our Oceanside petty theft criminal defense lawyers because we're not entirely sure that felony burglary would be charged in a case of shoplifting goods worth at most about $40. In most shoplifting cases, the charge is petty theft because the value of the goods is under $400 and not taken from the victim's person.

On a first offense with a low value like this, petty theft can be charged as an infraction rather than a misdemeanor. This keeps the crime off the defendant's record and carries a penalty of up to $250. Misdemeanor petty theft carries up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000. By contrast, second-degree burglary -- which is the charge for burglary of a store -- would be a "wobbler," meaning it can be charged as a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail or a felony carrying up to a year in prison. Prosecutors may charge the crime this way if the crime was particularly noxious or the defendant seems headed for a life of more crime. However, to prove burglary, the prosecutors must prove that the defendant entered the store with the intent to commit larceny -- and intent can be difficult to prove. If they can find no discussions or actions to show that intent, prosecutors will have to drop the charge back down to petty theft.

Continue reading "Sheriff's Deputies Searching for Teenagers Who Stole Beer from Convenience Store" »

Our Santa Ana drunk driving criminal defense lawyers wrote several times here about Andrew Thomas Gallo, the allegedly drunk driver who is charged with killing Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and students Courtney Stewart and Henry Pearson. Gallo is charged with second-degree murder under the legal theory that because he had a prior drunk driving conviction, he knew it was wrong to drive drunk but did it anyway. We thought this was a stretch for the prosecution, so we were surprised to see the same theory being tested in another trial in Orange County, that of Alex David Trujillo. As the Orange County Register reported June 9, Trujillo is accused of being both drunk and high on prescription painkillers when he drove his car directly into a Seal Beach sidewalk, killing Catherine Busse, 46, and slightly injuring her then-14-year-old son, Sam Busse.

Trujillo does not deny that he caused the crash. However, his attorney argued in court that Trujillo had not had a drink since the night before and that his blood-alcohol content may have been under the 0.08 legal limit. The prosecutor disputed this, saying Trujillo's BAC was 0.10. He was also accused of having Xanax, Vicodin and Oxycontin in his system, which his attorney said were all legally prescribed for medical conditions. Trujillo has a previous DUI from 2002, for which he took DUI classes and attended a MADD victim impact panel. For that reason, the prosecutor argued that he knew drunk driving was wrong and got behind the wheel with "complete disregard for the danger he placed on the road," meriting a second-degree murder charge. Trujillo's attorney said he did not have a conscious disregard for human life, a requirement for a guilty finding for that charge.

As Pomona intoxicated driving criminal defense attorneys, we remain skeptical that the second-degree murder charge is truly the best fit for this crime. Second-degree murder is charged for planned killings or killings that show "an abandoned or malignant heart." Drivers should know that intentionally choosing to drive while intoxicated is dangerous and irresponsible -- but even when they make that choice, they aren't consciously setting out to kill someone. For this exact reason, California state law offers a different charge to fit DUI-related deaths -- gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. The difference is not academic. Trujillo faces 15 years to life for a conviction for second-degree murder, but would face four to ten years for gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. Given the stakes, if the jury believes Trujillo doesn't meet the standards for second-degree murder, they may choose not to convict him at all.

Continue reading "OC Man Charged With Murder for Intoxicated Driving Crash That Killed Bicyclist" »

As Los Angeles medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys, we were interested to see a recent report on the growth of medical marijuana delivery services. An investigative report by KQED and the Center for Investigative Reporting found that as more and more cities ban or severely restrict medical marijuana storefronts, collectives and cooperatives are responding by going mobile. The resulting services deliver marijuana to the customers' doorsteps. The story, which ran on NPR June 9, says the legality of the practice is disputed. But in a June 9 article from the Associated Press, current Los Angeles district attorney and Republican attorney general candidate Steve Cooley says he believes the practice is illegal.

Cooley's position is not exactly new. He is already known as an opponent of medical marijuana dispensaries; he says any sale of the drug is illegal. Medical marijuana advocates dispute this, pointing to a statement from a prior attorney general suggesting that storefront sales are legal as long as the dispensary is not for profit. Now, Cooley says people who deliver medical marijuana and online sellers could both face felony charges for drug sales. This argument is echoed in the Center for Investigative Reporting piece, which quotes a subordinate of Cooley's saying that there's nothing in the Compassionate Use Act that explicitly allows marijuana delivery or online sales. However, advocates argue that a delivery service is still a medical marijuana collective under the law and should be legal as long as other parts of the law are followed.

Our Tustin medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers strongly agree. Under Senate Bill 420, the transportation of medical marijuana is legal within California as long as you are in compliance with local and state laws. It's true that this does not specifically allow delivery services, but it also does not specifically forbid them. Collectives and cooperatives need only follow the existing state law and attorney general's guidelines that clarify that law, as well as any local laws affecting their work. In a way, that's what collectives and cooperatives are doing when they convert from a banned storefront to a delivery service. A delivery service may even be more valuable for patients. As the Center for Investigative Reporting piece notes, people who are unwell enough to need medical marijuana may prefer to stay home and take a delivery anyway.

Continue reading "Attorney General Candidate Says Medical Marijuana Delivery Services Are Illegal" »

Our Santa Ana drug crimes criminal defense lawyers were interested to see a story about a rare reversal of a prison sentence for probation violation. Even more unusually, the story is about a former Chicago Bears football player, "L.A. Mike" Richardson. According to a June 3 story from the Orange County Register, Richardson was on probation for sale of drugs in 2008, when a court found him in violation of that probation and sentenced him to 13 years in prison. But the Fourth District Court of Appeal found this week that Richardson had not violated the part of his probation he was accused of violating, although he may have violated another. It reversed the conviction and set him free after about 18 months in prison.

Richardson was part of the 1986 Super Bowl championship team and one of the Bears who recorded the Super Bowl Shuffle. But he became involved in drugs after retiring, racking up at least 20 drug offenses, including five felonies. The case before the appeals court stemmed from a 2006 arrest, in which officers found crack and amphetamines in Richardson's car. He was sentenced to probation, but was accused of violating that probation after he was found making out with a woman who was also on probation, violating a restriction against associating with other known drug offenders. Richardson was also accused of failing to register as a drug offender when he moved. However, the appeals court found that he had properly registered when he told his probation officer he had moved. And the conviction for associating with the woman who was "disapproved of" by his probation officer was unenforceably vague, the court found.

As Orange drug crimes criminal defense attorneys, we are pleased by this decision. We believe California's prisons are so full in part because we jail nonviolent drug offenders, and the description of Richardson's arrest suggests that he was one of them. People addicted to drugs, including people who sell to maintain their habits, need treatment rather than imprisonment. In Richardson's case, the probation violation arrest made the situation worse by criminalizing what appeared to be legal and harmless conduct, denying him a chance to kick his drug habit and build a new life. As the article notes, Richardson was convicted of associating with someone his probation officer didn't approve of -- a condition that is not only vague, but paternalistic. And because Richardson moved at the direction of his drug treatment counselor and told his probation officer, he was apparently obeying the spirit as well as the letter of his probation agreement.

Continue reading "Appeals Court Overturns Probation Violation Sentence for Former NFL Player" »

In March, our Bellflower domestic violence criminal defense lawyers wrote about a spousal abuse arrest for Newport Beach's city attorney. David Hunt was arrested March 14 after what the newspaper described as a family fight that injured his wife. Hunt had not returned to work since then, because the Orange County District Attorney's Office had not made a decision about whether to file charges. Now, the Orange County Register reported June 2, that office has decided against continuing the prosecution. A spokeswoman for the prosecutors said the office decided that despite a recording of a 911 call from Hunt's son, there was not enough evidence to prove the case. The Newport Beach City Council voted to reinstate Hunt to his job right away.

In the March 14 incident, Hunt's younger son, age 16, made the 911 call. He told the dispatcher that his father "just went crazy," pushing his mother down and then going after his older brother, age 18. The other family members are not identified by name in the article. Asked what started the fight, the older son said his father had walked into the house and "started throwing around some pretty stupid and serious accusations." The young man said his father grabbed him, and everybody jumped into the argument, which eventually ended with the mother and younger brother being physically thrown off. The mother hit a table and ended up with a bump on her head and a cut arm, previous news reports said. The district attorney's spokeswoman said the evidence didn't show that Hunt "willfully" battered his wife, so the two prosecutors who reviewed it didn't feel it was strong enough for prosecution.

As Fullerton domestic violence criminal defense attorneys, we're pleased that the district attorney's office recognized this. The outcome may not be to everyone's liking, but it's both smart and fair for prosecutors to recognize when their evidence doesn't meet the standard laid out by the law. Criminal cases must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. This is a high standard, but when someone may be going to prison, a high standard is appropriate. In this case, the spokeswoman seems to be saying that her office did not believe the behavior was "willful," suggesting that Hunt's wife may have been injured unintentionally. The office also stressed that Hunt, a city-level prosecutor, was not given preferential treatment by the county prosecutors. For the sake of justice, as well as the sake of his family members, we hope that's true.

Continue reading "No Spousal Abuse Charges Will Be Filed Against Newport Beach City Attorney " »

Our Ontario DUI criminal defense attorneys wrote a few months ago about the ongoing murder trial of alleged drunk driver Andrew Thomas Gallo. As baseball fans may remember, Gallo is the driver accused of killing 22-year-old Nick Adenhart, a pitcher for the Angels who had just started his fourth major league game. The same crash also killed Courtney Stewart, 20, a Cal State Fullerton student; and Henry Pearson, 25, a law student and aspiring sports agent. A fourth passenger, Jonathon Wilhite, suffered a serious injury called an internal decapitation and is still recovering from the April 2009 accident. Gallo's passenger and stepbrother, Raymond Alejandro Rivera, was also injured. Gallo is accused of speeding through a red light with a blood-alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit, broadsiding Stewart's car and pushing it into a light pole. His driver's license was suspended at the time because of a previous DUI conviction.

In April, Gallo's criminal defense attorney motioned to move the trial out of Orange County, saying Gallo could not get a fair trial in a county full of Angels fans. Now, the Orange County Register reported June 1, Gallo's attorney has also asked for a delay in the trial. Defense attorney Jacqueline Goodman Rubio became the attorney of record on April 16 of this year, after Gallo successfully moved to replace his public defender with the private lawyer. Rubio told the court that despite working full-time to catch up on the case, she needs more time to prepare for the July 26 trial, and to prepare a motion to move the trial. The prosecutor opposed both the change of venue and the delay, as does the private attorney for the victims' families.

As our Placentia drunk driving criminal defense lawyers wrote in April, Gallo is charged with three counts of second-degree murder instead of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated. (This is in addition to DUI and other charges.) The prosecutor in the case says the charge fits because Gallo had a previous DUI conviction, which means he knew driving drunk was dangerous. However, second-degree murder is a substantially more serious charge, carrying 15 years to life for each count, rather than the four to ten years possible for each gross vehicular manslaughter conviction. And, as we wrote in April, second-degree murder requires "malice aforethought," meaning premeditation or "an abandoned and malignant heart." Driving drunk is not a good decision, but we believe it's a stretch to argue that Gallo set out to kill three people he'd never met. Given the wide discrepancy between the manslaughter and murder sentences, we hope his jury thinks carefully about whether a conviction is truly just.

Continue reading "Allegedly Drunk Driver Who Killed Angels Pitcher Loses Request to Delay Trial" »

Our Orange County vandalism criminal defense attorneys try to explain the importance of the three-strikes law to every client who is facing a charge for a "strike" crime. The three-strikes law substantially increases penalties for felonies after a previous conviction for certain felonies considered serious or violent. But it's very rare that we see this law invoked in the context of vandalism, as it was in a May 27 Huntington Beach Independent article. According to the article, John Patrick Rogers, 45, is accused of felony vandalism for "keying" and denting his neighbor's car. If he is convicted, and the judge does not disregard his previous convictions, Rogers could get 25 years to life in prison. The sentence for felony vandalism is ordinarily two to three years.

Rogers has two previous strikes, both for assault with a deadly weapon. The age and circumstances of those crimes was not reported. However, he's also known to the Huntington Beach Police Department as someone who has been arrested multiple times, often for less serious crimes. His record includes prior convictions for misdemeanor reckless driving, misdemeanor lewd conduct in public and disobeying a court order. He also has unspecified restraining orders against him. The article didn't describe the circumstances of the vandalism, but a Huntington Beach officer said Rogers was taken back into custody after initially being released on his own recognizance. The officer said the public was safer without Rogers in custody.

As Long Beach vandalism criminal defense lawyers, we suspect the real reason has to do with the time in prison Rogers is facing. Vandalism is not normally a serious enough crime to inspire defendants to flee. But thanks to the three strikes law, Rogers faces a minimum of 12.5 times the usual sentence, and a maximum of the rest of his life in prison. Under those circumstances, it's easy to see why law enforcement might think Rogers would flee. In fact, we believe this reflects the fundamental problem with the three-strikes law: it sometimes creates absurdly large sentences for relatively minor crimes. In cases like this one, whether the defendant is sentenced for a third "strike" is up to the judge's discretion -- which means a lot depends on what kind of judge the defendant gets. The help of an experienced attorney can also make a major difference in this kind of case.

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As Riverside County medical marijuana criminal defense attorneys, we weren't surprised to see yet another police raid of a medical marijuana dispensary, this time in Fountain Valley. But a follow-up story in the Orange County Register May 26 caught our attention. According to the article, Ian Stubbs, a co-director of OCMS Healing Leaves, claims law enforcement made false claims that substances it seized from the dispensary were "hard drugs" other than marijuana. He also told the newspaper that the police decision to seize the dispensary's inventory and cash and freeze its bank accounts has made it unable to reopen and serve its patients. The Orange County district attorney's office is examining the evidence seized in the raids on the dispensary and two private homes, but no arrests had been made.

OCMS Healing Leaves and two private homes in Garden Grove were searched last week, the Register said. The police said they found three pounds of marijuana, more than 50 marijuana plants, three pounds of hashish and an ounce of methamphetamine. They also seized $600 to $800 from a cash drawer and several firearms. Stubb said the "methamphetamine" was actually a dietary supplement from GNC, the nutrition chain store, and the "hashish" was actually trimmings from marijuana processed to make cannabis butter, an ingredient in the edibles sold at many dispensaries. The counts of the marijuana and plants were accurate, he noted, but they were a legal part of the dispensary's operations, which serve 300 to 400 patients. Stubb said the dispensary has tried to follow state law -- but now that the police have seized its assets, it can no longer pay rent and must close its doors.

Our Tustin medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers wish Stubb and his colleagues the best of luck in resolving this problem. If Stubb's claims are true, it's not clear what charges Orange County prosecutors could bring -- or why the police raided them in the first place. Regardless of what law enforcement officers or neighbors think, nonprofit medical marijuana dispensaries are legal in the state of California. If OCMS Healing Leaves followed California law fully, they cannot be guilty of a California state marijuana crime. The police officers may have made a mistake with the amphetamine and hashish charges, but they may also have been looking for other charges to file, knowing that the dispensary was in compliance with medical marijuana laws. If that's the case, there's no crime -- and no grounds for the police to confiscate the dispensary's guns, cash and inventory.

Continue reading "Marijuana Dispensary Owner Claims Police Claim of Finding Hard Drugs Is False" »