California Criminal Lawyers Blog

As Signal Hill aggravated assault criminal defense attorneys, we were interested to read an article about a Huntington Beach man charged with that crime for a confrontation in which no shots were fired. According to a July 28 item in the Orange County Register, Robert Joseph Alarcon, 30, was arrested three days earlier for assault with a deadly weapon after he pulled a firearm on a person who had come to repossess his vehicle. Alarcon is not accused of firing at the person or actually shooting, but he did reportedly demand that the person get off his property. The person left and called the police. Alarcon was not charged as of the article's publication.

The Register's report was drawn from a Huntington Beach police department report. According to the report, Alarcon responded to the repossession worker by getting angry, then displaying, loading and pointing a shotgun at the worker. The police were called around 6 p.m. July 25 with a report of a man with a shotgun. When they arrived, they found Alarcon without a firearm. However, the police investigated further and were able to obtain a search warrant for Alarcon's home. That search turned up the shotgun, disassembled and hidden. The Huntington Beach police arrested Alarcon and booked him into city jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. It was not clear whether he was still jailed as of the article's publication.

Some people may be surprised to find that it is illegal to order someone off your own property with a firearm. In fact, it can be legal -- under the right circumstances. In California, you can legally use force to eject a trespasser, as long as the trespasser doesn't leave within a reasonable amount of time and the amount of force was reasonably necessary. As Lake Forest assault with a deadly weapon criminal defense lawyers, we don't believe this applies under the circumstances described in the article. But to use the trespassing argument, Alarcon would first have to show that the repo worker was a trespasser -- which would be an uphill battle if the worker was on public land or the front steps. Generally, there are also exceptions for people who enter others' property to do a job, like postal workers. He would then have to show that the amount of force used was necessary, and that the worker didn't leave after being asked. The article doesn't go into enough details to judge this, but it may be another uphill battle.

Continue reading "Man Charged With Assault With a Deadly Weapon for Pointing Shotgun at Repossessor" »

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" »