California Criminal Lawyers Blog

Our Riverside County drug possession criminal defense attorneys were not surprised to read about studies showing that Latino and African American Californians are arrested for misdemeanor possession of marijuana more often than white people. In both cases, this is despite the fact that white people are more likely to self-report using marijuana, according to surveys by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Both studies were sponsored by the Drug Policy Alliance and co-sponsored by the NAACP and the William T. Velasquez Institute, a think tank for policy affecting Latinos. The Drug Policy Alliance and the NAACP both support California's Proposition 19, which would make marijuana legal for adults 21 and over under state law. Supporters of the proposition cite this racial disparity as a reason to vote yes.

An Oct. 21 article from AOL News explained the earlier study. It found that between 2006 and 2008, African Americans and Latinos were 12 times as likely to be arrested for misdemeanor marijuana possession as white people. In Los Angeles County, African Americans make up 10 percent of the population but 30 percent of those arrested for possessing marijuana. Most of those arrested were young men. The report focusing on Latinos was discussed in an Oct. 27 article in the Los Angeles Times, which said it used state criminal justice statistics to gather data. That data showed that Latinos were arrested more often than white people in 33 California cities, with Latinos arrested 2.9 times as often in Pasadena and twice as often in Los Angeles. This is despite the fact that arrests for serious crimes have actually gone down since 1990.

However, as Santa Ana drug possession criminal defense lawyers, we welcome information showing that there is a racial disparity in the way drug laws are enforced. Regardless of how voters feel about Proposition 19, it's clear that there's something wrong when young men of color are arrested more often than young white men, despite some evidence that white people commit the crime more often. In other areas of drug policy, racial disparities can be found in the actions of juries and in sentencing guidelines between drugs perceived as "white" and those perceived as mainly used by minorities. This in itself does not necessarily help any individual form a defense to a drug possession charge, but awareness of it can help defendants find related problems with an arrest or search.

Continue reading "Studies Show Whites Smoke More Marijuana But Minorities Arrested More" »

Our California immigration attorneys watched last week as senatorial candidate Sharron Angle (R-Nev.) told a group of Hispanic high school students she was uncertain her recent anti-immigration campaign commercial characterized Hispanics illegally attempting to cross into the U.S. The advertisement in question showed a group of brown-skinned men tagged as "illegal aliens" passing through an opening in a chain-link fence in the dark of night.

According to Politico, in a response to a student's question about portraying Hispanics in a negative light, Angle said the advertisement was about border security and that she was "not sure those are Latinos in that commercial". She then noted that the "terrorists" came through "our northern border" and concluded "...we cannot allow terrorists, we cannot allow anyone to come across our border if we don't know why they are coming."

That same day, Politico reported that Angle, in perhaps a misguided attempt to reference America's "melting pot" roots, told the same group they looked "more Asian" to her than Hispanic. She further noted that a reporter had once erroneously called her the "first Asian legislator" in Nevada, and suggested appearances can be deceiving.

Meanwhile, just this week The Nation magazine published an in-depth investigative report on former CNN newsman Lou Dobbs, who is perhaps best known for his venomous diatribes against "illegal aliens" and employers who hire them. The report reveals that Dobbs has employed undocumented workers from both the landscaping and horse industry over a number of years to manage property and possessions in Vermont, New Jersey and Florida.

Dobbs, who had a reported audience capture of more than 800,000 and earned an annual salary of $6 million with CNN, has brought his anti-immigration message at least twice to Tea Party rallies as a keynote speaker since leaving the cable news network. He recently told FOX News he is considering a run for Senate and has not ruled out running for president in 2012.

Apparently, producing on-air - or on-demand - rants railing again "illegal employers" is both more profitable and easier than literally policing his own backyard hiring practices which includes employing undocumented workers in low-wage, low-skilled positions in three states.

Dobbs carefully built his anti-immigrant reputation upon especially virulent criticism toward contractor hires - a practice he adopted to address care and management of his daughter's show horses and his carefully manicured lawns. Relying upon a staffing contractor essentially passes the employee verification buck from his hands to the hiring agent.

With that said, Dobbs has with equal care constructed his newsman reputation on a thirty-year history of thoughtful investigative practices. One would think he would be the sort to at least require his contractors ensure potential hires held appropriate work visas before becoming employees of The Dobbs Group.

Yet, at least five former employees of The Dobbs Group - some of whom worked for Dobbs for years - went on-the-record with The Nation admitting they were knowingly hired on despite their undocumented status.

Like Angle, and gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman (R-Calif.), Dobbs is more than willing to demonize undocumented workers when it advances his political agenda before a conservative audience. While all three "candidates" openly downplay such tactics when courting Latino voters, their efforts at double-speak are largely transparent.

Continue reading "California immigration reform: Courting the Latino vote" »

A report about a drunk driving arrest recently caught the attention of our Ontario DUI criminal defense attorneys. According to the Orange County Register, a Long Beach police officer pleaded not guilty Oct. 19 to two charges of driving under the influence. Eddie Sanchez, 30, was arrested in Orange County in May after other drivers noticed his erratic driving and failure to move his car after a traffic light turned green. He faces a DUI charge with a sentence enhancement for having a BAC of .15 or more. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to six months in jail. The Long Beach Police Department declined to comment on any professional consequences for Sanchez, but noted that officers are held to a higher standard of conduct.

Sanchez was arrested in Garden Grove on May 24 of this year. According to the article, which is based on a release from the Orange County District Attorney's office, Sanchez was drinking at a bar in Long Beach at around 4:30 p.m. when he decided to visit a friend in Stanton. During the journey, other drivers saw Sanchez's car weave in and out of traffic and stop at green lights. He was taken off the road after he failed to start moving after a light turned green. As several drivers behind him honked, the driver of the next car got out of his vehicle, walked to Sanchez's car and turned off that car's engine. Garden Grove police came in response to a 911 call and observed that Sanchez had slurred speech and a smell of alcohol. A test showed that he had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.16, twice the legal limit. An attorney for Sanchez did not return phone calls seeking a comment.

As Torrance drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, we think it was smart of Sanchez to hire an attorney. A DUI conviction is not good for anyone, but it can be especially bad for people who need a clean criminal record or a clean driving record for their jobs. In addition to the criminal penalties, financial costs and loss of a driver's license that a DUI entails, these people also face discipline at work, or even termination under some circumstances. We also noticed that Sanchez pleaded not guilty even though prosecutors have a high BAC test result. Many people believe they cannot fight a drunk driving case with a BAC above the legal limit, but they absolutely can. Mistakes by police officers, civil rights violations, incorrectly calibrated testing machines and other factors can all throw the evidence into doubt, undermining the case against you.

Continue reading "Long Beach Police Officer Arrested for Drunk Driving at Intersection in Garden Grove" »

Our San Juan Capistrano domestic violence criminal defense attorneys were interested to see a recent series of articles about legal and personal trouble for a former NFL player. Junior Seau, a linebacker who spent much of his career with the San Diego Chargers, was arrested Oct. 17 on suspicion of domestic violence after his live-in girlfriend called the police late that day. The Crimesider blog from CBS News reported that Seau was arrested without incident at their Oceanside home, but hours later, drove his SUV off a cliff near Carlsbad State Beach. Seau was not seriously hurt, and was treated for minor injuries and released. He still faces the domestic violence charge, which NBC San Diego said was for PC 275.3, domestic assault.

News reports do not go into detail about the conflict giving rise to the domestic violence charges. The 25-year-old girlfriend, who is not named in reports, called the police late on Sunday evening to report the alleged assault. Seau, 41, was not home when officers arrived, but called the girlfriend and agreed to come home, where he was arrested. Authorities said the girlfriend had minor injuries that did not require hospitalization. Seau was arrested and posted bail in San Diego County. About five hours later, witnesses reported seeing Seau's SUV driving erratically before it accelerated and drove off a 30-foot cliff. Media reports say Seau says he fell asleep at the wheel, and no charges are expected from that crash. However, San Diego County prosecutors are still considering the domestic violence charge.

Even without the additional complications of celebrity or driving off a cliff, this case would have been interesting to our Garden Grove domestic violence lawyers because the charge Seau faces is a "wobbler." This means he may be charged with a felony or a misdemeanor according to the discretion of the prosecutor. Typically, prosecutors make their decisions about this according to how badly hurt they believe the victim was. As the NBC story notes, California law requires that prosecutors prove a "corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition" to get a conviction for domestic assault. Translated, that means the victim must have some kind of bodily injury or condition created by force. Even though the injuries to Seau's girlfriend were minor, this charge can still apply. However, the fact that they were minor means Seau is more likely to face misdemeanor charges, if any charges are filed at all.

Continue reading "Former San Diego Chargers Player Drives off Cliff After Arrest for Domestic Violence" »

Our Colton drug crimes criminal defense lawyers were interested to see a recent item about the upholding of a jail sentence for a man charged with several narcotics crimes. According to the OC Weekly, the Fourth District Court of Appeal on Oct. 15 rejected Robert Victor Wayman's appeal of his conviction and sentence of 180 days in jail -- six months. Wayman was convicted in Orange County of driving under the influence and transporting marijuana, but not convicted of possession for sale and possession of concentrated cannabis. He had argued that the marijuana was for personal use under his valid California medical marijuana patient card, but the jury apparently did not entirely believe him. The Fourth District agreed, saying medical marijuana users do not have the right to transport medical marijuana with them wherever they go.

The Weekly wrote that Wayman's vehicle was stopped in Orange County in 2008. Inside it, the CHP found 37 individual bags containing 117 grams of medical marijuana. This was about half of what Wayman was permitted to possess as a California medical marijuana patient. Wayman said he kept his marijuana in the car because his mother, with whom he lived, didn't want it in the house. However, Wayman was also carrying electronic scales, metal screens and brown paper bags, and the officer suspected that the marijuana was for sale. It was later discovered that Wayman owned website URLs for marijuana delivery services. After he was convicted, he appealed on the transportation conviction, arguing that the trial judge had given bad jury instructions on that charge. The appeals court disagreed, saying users can be legally allowed to possess marijuana without being authorized to transport it to all places.

As Covina drug crimes criminal defense attorneys, we would like to point out that California medical marijuana law does authorize transportation by patients and qualified caregivers. The text of SB 420 says no such person should be subject to arrest for transportation (or possession, delivery or cultivation), unless there is reasonable cause to believe that the person is in violation of other parts of the article. In this case, we suspect that the CHP was right that Wayman was illegally reselling his legally prescribed marijuana. However, the Fourth District's ruling goes a bit further, saying "nothing in the law allows a user to store his entire marijuana supply in his car and transport it wherever he goes, just to appease his mother." The Fourth concluded that the Legislature intended to authorize only transportation that is legitimately related to medical need, but the text of the law does not specify any special purpose for legal transportation. We suspect the courts will see this issue again.

Continue reading "Appeals Court Upholds Jail Sentence for Patient Transporting Alleged Medical Marijuana" »

As Pico Rivera DUI criminal defense lawyers, we frequently read about people who are accused of driving under the influence of alcohol -- but news about marijuana DUIs is much less common. That's why we were interested in a recent and highly publicized column by Los Angeles Times reporter Steve Lopez, who decided to drive stoned and write about it at the request of the Los Angeles City Attorney. Law enforcement was interested in the stunt because several groups believe that if Proposition 19, the initiative to legalize marijuana, passes, the number of marijuana DUIs will increase. So they asked Lopez and a KABC radio host, Peter Tilden, to drive on a closed course, then smoke medically prescribed marijuana and drive again to compare their performances.

Lopez and Tilden drove through a slalom course and attempted to park in tight spaces. They also were asked to choose the lane with the green light when the lights in three forks in the road changed suddenly as they approached. This last requirement didn't bother Lopez when he drove the course sober. However, when he approached the same green light choice while stoned, he said he swerved violently. On the other parts of the course, he said, he thought he did fine and didn't feel as impaired as he would have after a few drinks or while playing with a cell phone. An officer observing him said Lopez had only touched a few traffic cones, but concluded that Lopez was less confident in his abilities and had shown impairment "across the board." Tilden reportedly also felt fine but made a hash of his parallel parking.

Of course, this is far from a scientific look at driving under the influence of marijuana. Scientists have performed several more scientific studies on the subject. As a rule, these studies find that marijuana does impair driving, but not to the degree that alcohol does. In fact, a British study found that marijuana is also less harmful than texting while driving. This is part of why we, in our work as Cypress intoxicated driving criminal defense attorneys, have found that a marijuana DUI is easier in some ways to defend than an alcohol DUI. The scientific establishment has also not produced clear scientific standards about what substances in the blood show impairment. Nonetheless, driving stoned is still less safe than driving sober, not to mention illegal, and would remain illegal even if Proposition 19 passes.

Continue reading "Newspaper Columnist Experiments With Driving Under the Influence of Marijuana" »

Our Murrieta drug possession criminal defense attorneys were interested to see a recent item about a drug possession arrest way up in northern California. According to the Marin Independent Journal, a San Diego County woman and a Humboldt County man were arrested for marijuana possession in Novato Oct. 13. Sonia Shvimer of La Mesa and Seth Lukasha of Meyers Flat were originally pulled over on suspicion of speeding and "minor violations" not specified in the article. But after they were pulled over, the officer discovered more than 11 pounds of marijuana in the back of their SUV. Shvimer and Lukasha were charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell and transportation of marijuana. They are both currently free on bail.

The article says the two were on their way to southern California from Meyers Flat, a town in Humboldt County. In the early hours of Oct. 13, a Novato police officer spotted their SUV speeding on Highway 101 and pulled them over near Ignacio. Shvimer was driving. During the traffic stop, the officer noticed a smell of marijuana and eventually discovered more than 11 pounds of the drug in two bags inside the vehicle. It was not clear how the marijuana was found. Shvimer, 34, and Lukasha, 28, both have medical marijuana cards permitting them to possess certain amounts of marijuana, the article said. But a spokesperson for the Novato police said the amount of marijuana in their possession, and other evidence, suggested more than merely personal use. Shvimer and Lukasha were not available for comment.

If our firm were defending this case, our Newport Beach drug possession criminal defense lawyers would be very interested in some of the details of this arrest, especially the evidence leading to the possession with intent charge. The quantity of marijuana was cited as one reason police believed there was intent to sell, and it's true that 11 pounds is far more than two individual patients are authorized to have under state medical marijuana laws. However, that may not be true if the patients are part of a collective or cooperative with enough members. An experienced attorney would look at the strength of this and any other evidence cited to support the intent claim. Even more importantly, defense attorneys in this situation should always, always look at the legality of the traffic stop and search that led to the arrest. If either action was illegal or violated the arrestees' civil rights, the resulting evidence would be tainted and should be thrown out of court, potentially gutting the case against Lukasha and Shvimer.

Continue reading "San Diego Woman and Companion Arrested for Drug Possession With Intent to Sell" »

As Ontario domestic violence criminal defense lawyers, we were interested to note last month that assemblyman Chris Norby, R-Fullerton, was being investigated for domestic violence. The investigation stemmed from an incident of Sept. 2, when a deliveryman discovered Norby and his wife, Martha Norby, arguing and called the police. The deliveryman reportedly told the police that the man had shoved the woman, leading prosecutors to consider domestic violence charges. But on Oct. 12, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Orange County District Attorney's office has declined to file charges against Norby, citing a lack of evidence to support them. The Norbys have told the media that neither of them pushed the other.

A previous Orange County Register article described the incident. On Sept. 2, the deliveryman came to the Norbys' Fullerton home and heard an argument. The Norbys later said that this was an argument about who should pick up Martha Norby's three children from school that afternoon. Martha Norby, 32, is pregnant with the couple's first child. Chris Norby said her doctor had recommended bed rest and that he was trying to convince her to take it easy. (Chris Norby, 60, was married three times before and has a 21-year-old son from a previous marriage.) He told the media that the argument was completely verbal, and Martha Norby told the Register that her husband had never hit her. The district attorney's office did not give specific reasons why the charges were not filed or say what charges were under consideration.

As Paramount domestic violence criminal defense attorneys, we would guess that the charge under consideration was domestic battery, the less serious of the two most commonly charged domestic violence crimes. Domestic battery is the crime of willfully inflicting force or violence on a partner, a definition broad enough to encompass any kind of unwanted touching. We do not believe that the district attorney's office would have dropped the case if it felt that there was evidence supporting that charge, even though Martha Norby denies that her husband pushed her. Precisely because battered spouses frequently deny the battery, California law enforcement is legally able to go through with prosecutions without cooperation from the victim. However, no prosecutor wants to lose a case, which means they do not bring cases with thin or nonexistent evidence. We suspect the word of the deliveryman was just not enough to support the charge.

Continue reading "Prosecutors Decline to File Charges Against Assemblyman Accused of Pushing Wife" »

We wrote recently about the domestic violence accusation against Real Housewives of Orange County participant Simon Barney, who was ultimately not charged with a crime. Now, a different Real Housewives husband has caught the attention of our Corona DUI criminal defense attorneys -- but for drunk driving instead. According to an Oct. 15 article in the Orange County Register, Matt Keough of Coto de Caza was sentenced the day before to a year in prison for felony drunk driving. He will also serve three years of probation. The conviction came after Keough pleaded guilty to DUI in July and served 90 days at the men's prison in Chino, where he was evaluated for eligibility for probation. He has credit for 194 days due to his stay in Chino and is expected to serve three to four months in jail.

Keough was a pitcher for the Oakland A's when they won the 1981 ALDS, but his later career was cut short by a flying bat to the head that nearly killed him. He is currently separated from his wife, Real Housewives player Jeana Keough. He also has a history of problems with alcohol, including a 2005 DUI conviction and a 2008 probation violation after being caught drinking in Newport Beach. In the most recent drunk driving incident, no one was hurt, but police found that Keough had a blood-alcohol concentration of .30, well over the .08 legal limit. Keough was coming home with some beer when an officer spotted him failing to make a complete stop at a stop sign and pulled him over. Evaluators in Chino were split on whether Keough should get probation, but Jeana Keough told the judge he was not a threat to society and has a support system at home including their two college-aged sons.

As Laguna Beach drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, we're interested in the fact that Keough was charged with felony DUI for what appears to be a second offense with no penalties. Under the law, an ordinary second DUI with no injuries would usually be a misdemeanor without a guarantee of jail or prison other than the county's short mandatory minimum. However, there were several circumstances behind Keough's arrest that likely resulted in enhancing his sentence, including a prior DUI conviction in the last 10 years and a BAC of 0.15 or higher. Keough may also still have been on probation, or arresting officers also may have believed he was driving recklessly, which would also increase the penalties. In short, this case shows how even a victimless DUI can lead to serious penalties, especially if you already have a history of DUI or related problems.

Continue reading "Ex-MLB Pitcher and 'Real Housewives' Husband Gets a Year in Jail for Felony DUI" »

Our Lake Elsinore intoxicated driving defense lawyers were sorry to read about a recent sentencing in a DUI manslaughter case. The Orange County Register reported Oct. 12 on the sentencing of Joel Torrejon Miranda, 41, for driving drunk and causing the death of pedestrian Francisco Aquino. Miranda was a repeat drunk driver at the time of the 2009 crash, with one DUI conviction within the past decade and two from the 1990s. Miranda was convicted earlier this month of gross vehicular manslaughter and was sentenced Oct. 12 to 20 years to life in prison. The prosecutor in the case told the Register that Miranda will be eligible for parole after serving 10 years of his sentence.

According to the Register, Miranda was drunk when he turned into a Santa Ana apartment complex on Feb. 1, 2009. The turn put Miranda's truck into the path of a Mercedes, which hit the truck and forced it onto the sidewalk. The truck hit Aquino and pinned him against a wall. He later died at a hospital. The driver of the Mercedes was not hospitalized. Miranda fled the scene, but police tracked him down at home and arrested him about 40 minutes later. An hour after the crash, Miranda's blood-alcohol concentration was measured at 0.23, almost three times the legal limit of 0.08. At his sentencing, Miranda told the judge that he had promised his father, who had recently died, not to drink again.

It's unfortunate that Miranda will have to keep that promise in prison. The seriousness of this charge is part of why this story caught the attention of our Aliso Viejo drunk driving criminal defense attorneys. Because this was a DUI accident, we suspect that the actual charge against Miranda was gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, the more serious DUI manslaughter charge in California. Normally, this carries four, six or ten years in prison -- not fun, but not 20 to life. However, drivers can be sentenced to 15 to life if they have a previous gross vehicular manslaughter conviction, or if they have two or more prior drunk driving convictions. We suspect the higher charge comes from Miranda's past DUIs. The remainder could reflect sentencing for another charge the Register did not mention, such as a gross bodily injury enhancement or a conviction for the underlying fourth DUI.

Continue reading "Santa Ana Man Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison for Vehicular Manslaughter While Drunk" »

As Rancho Cucamonga drunk driving criminal defense lawyers, we were interested to see that the governor has signed a bill allowing longer driver's license suspensions for people with multiple DUI convictions. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Sept. 28 that the governor has signed the bill, which would allow judges to revoke driver's licenses for up to 10 years for defendants who are convicted after two or more previous drunk driving convictions in the last decade. Currently, such people can only lose their licenses for up to three years. The bill will take effect at the beginning of 2012, so it will not apply to intoxicated driving convictions in the next 15 months.

The bill was sponsored by San Mateo Assemblyman Jerry Hill, a Democrat. Hill told the newspaper that his bill could take as many as 10,000 repeat drunk drivers off the road each year. In 2008, he said, 188,000 people were convicted of drunk driving in California. Of those, he said, 9,164 drivers (4.8 percent) had two previous convictions and 3,200 (1.7 percent) had four or more. However, the bill does not make longer-term license suspensions automatic; judges would be able to decide on an individual basis whether to impose a longer license suspension. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal highway safety organization, said one-third of the 1.5 million Californians arrested each year are repeat offenders. The agency also said 310,000 Californians have three or more past DUIs, possibly making them eligible for the law.

As Mission Viejo DUI criminal defense attorneys, we were pleased to see that this law does not tie judges' hands when it comes to sentencing for intoxicated driving. Rather than mandate a decade of license suspension, the new law will allow judges to choose the length of license suspension that they believe best fits the facts of the cases before them. This is a welcome contrast from many other "tough on crime" laws. However, we are not so sure that longer license suspensions are the answer. People with serious addiction problems are not generally deterred from driving when their licenses are taken away; that's a big part of why a third of those arrested for DUI are repeat offenders. That means the longer license suspensions are most likely to affect those who aren't targeted by the law -- people who have made mistakes but are not alcoholics. Lack of mobility could harm such people's attempts to work, care for families and get back on the right track.

Continue reading "California Legislature Increases License Revocation Time for Third DUI Conviction" »

Our Chino Hills domestic violence criminal defense attorneys wrote recently about the arrest of Simon Barney, estranged husband of Real Housewives of Orange County's Tamra Barney, on domestic violence charges. Barney was accused of throwing a plastic dog leash at his soon-to-be-ex-wife after a confrontation Sept. 20. He was arrested in the early hours of the following day on suspicion of domestic violence. However, the Orange County Register reported, the district attorney's office on Friday declined to file charges against Simon Barney, citing a lack of evidence to support a prosecution. Nonetheless, Tamra Barney succeeded in a separate request for a temporary restraining order against Simon Barney. Another request for a restraining order, this one attempting to keep Simon Barney away from the couple's three children, was denied.

Simon Barney has denied that he threw a leash at his estranged wife. In a statement to the press, he said Tamra Barney set the situation up in order to get full custody of their children, ages 11, ten and four, so they can be legally shown on her television show. He also claimed she was reacting poorly to having recently run into his new girlfriend. Tamra Barney released her own statement denying those claims. In it, she said she did not want Simon Barney arrested and that "the cops made that decision for me." Celebrity news outlets have published the content of their divorce documents, in which Tamra Barney has claimed that Simon Barney was physically and verbally abusive throughout their 11-year marriage, including in front of their children. She had not reported the abuse in the past, she wrote, out of embarrassment and a belief that his "angry outbursts" might be justified.

This story is attracting a lot of attention because the Barneys are celebrities of a sort. But as Downey domestic violence criminal defense lawyers, we are more interested in this case because it shows how easily one partner can get a restraining order against another. The Orange County prosecutors felt there was not enough evidence to prosecute Simon Barney, but that apparent lack of evidence did not stop a court from granting Tamra Barney a restraining order against him. As a result, the article said, Simon Barney had to turn in a firearm he owned legally; he is likely also required to stay a certain distance away from Tamra Barney. In essence, his rights are being temporarily taken away without proof of wrongdoing. We also noticed that child custody was cited as a reason for their conflicting claims -- a common situation in a bitter breakup, like this one appears to be.

Continue reading "Prosecutors Drop Domestic Violence Charge Against 'Real Housewives'' Simon Barney" »

Our Westminster drunk driving criminal defense attorneys have written here several times before about the high-profile case of Andrew Gallo. Gallo, 23, was accused of driving under the influence of alcohol on the night when he ran a red light and barreled into a passing car, killing three of the people inside and seriously injuring a fourth. Now, the Orange County Register reported Sept. 28, an Orange Superior Court jury has convicted Gallo of the murders of Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, Cal State Fullerton student Courtney Stewart and law student Henry Pearson. A fourth passenger, Jonathan Wilhite, suffered an internal decapitation, a serious spinal injury. Gallo was also convicted of two felony counts of DUI causing great bodily injury and one felony hit and run. He faces 51 years to life in prison at his sentencing Dec. 10.

The case became famous because of Adenhart, a young pitcher for the Angels who had pitched six shutout innings a few hours earlier. The trial focused largely on whether Gallo's actions the night of the crash met the definition of second-degree murder. Deaths caused by intoxicated driving are generally charged as DUI manslaughter, a crime with less severe penalties. But the prosecutor charged Gallo with second-degree murder under the theory that he deliberately chose to drive drunk even though he knew, because of a previous DUI, that it was dangerous. Jurors told the newspaper that they thought carefully about this, considering whether Gallo consciously disregarded the potential consequences of driving drunk. One juror said he became convinced after reading police interview testimony, in which Gallo said he had done shots even though he knew they had a strong effect on him. His DUI defense attorney said she believed jurors should have had the option of convicting Gallo for vehicular manslaughter instead.

We agree. As Nigel Pearson, Henry Pearson's father, told the newspaper, this was a situation with no winners. The conviction will prevent Gallo from driving and has undoubtedly convinced him of how dangerous drunk driving is. However, our San Bernardino intoxicated driving criminal defense lawyers do not believe second-degree murder was appropriate in this case. Second-degree murder carries heavy penalties, but Gallo would have faced 12 to 30 years in prison for DUI manslaughter -- hardly a lenient punishment. More importantly, murder requires "an abandoned and malignant heart" under California law, not just criminal negligence. While Gallo's actions were irresponsible and the risks were clear, we believe it's important that he did not set out to kill. We suspect this will be an argument in his inevitable appeals to higher courts.

Continue reading "Jury Convicts Andrew Gallo of Triple Murder in DUI Crash That Killed Angels Pitcher" »

In early September, the rapper T.I. and his new wife, singer Tiny, were pulled over on suspicion of intoxicated driving in Los Angeles. Our Riverside drug possession criminal defense lawyers became interested because police found pills on the couple, even though neither ended up being formally charged with a DUI. Instead, both were charged with felony drug possession. On Sept. 17, the New York Daily News reported that court documents from T.I.'s arrest show that he had codeine and marijuana on his person in addition to Ecstasy pills, and tested positive for opiates in a court-ordered drug test. T.I., whose birth name is Clifford Harris Jr., was subject to drug testing because he is on probation from a federal firearms conviction. His probation may be revoked at a hearing not yet scheduled, exposing him to more prison time than the seven months he originally served.

Police in Los Angeles pulled over T.I. and Tiny, whose birth name is Tameka Cottle, after seeing their luxury car make a U-turn on Sunset Boulevard. Officers claimed a strong odor of marijuana was coming from the vehicle and suspected that he was driving under the influence of drugs. However, there was no DUI arrest. Instead, news reports say, officers found pills on both T.I. and Tiny, and arrested them for felony drug possession. The next day, T.I. tested positive for opiates, a class of drugs that includes codeine. Unconfirmed reports said he may have been drinking cough syrup. It was not clear how the marijuana was found. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, T.I.'s hometown newspaper, said his probation officer cited the Ecstasy and the codeine as potential probation violations. A third potential violation was also cited: association with Cortez Thomas, a convicted felon. A federal judge will decide whether T.I. should serve more prison time, and if so, how much, at the future hearing.

This case is a good example of why our Laguna Beach drug possession criminal defense attorneys tell clients to stay squeaky clean when they are on probation. If convicted of a probation violation, T.I. will serve more prison time for the firearms conviction. This is entirely separate from any drug possession charges he might face, which could carry serious prison time if the amount of the drugs is large enough. If the arresting officers are telling the truth, the couple was pulled over only because of the smell of marijuana -- suggesting that their driving was fine otherwise and not a cause for concern. Nonetheless, an experienced criminal defense lawyer should look closely into whether the officers are telling the truth. The smell of marijuana is a subjective judgment and difficult to prove, making it a good excuse for officers who might have had less savory reasons to make the stop.

Continue reading "Court Documents Show Rapper T.I. Tested Positive for Drugs After DUI Arrest" »