The usual case of driving under the influence involves alcohol. The claim by the police or District Attorney is that the driver is not only under the influence but has a blood alcohol level of more than the legal limit of .08 percent. More and more often people are being…
Crimes occur with many participants. Murders, car-jacking, embezzlement, fraud, white collar crime, insurance fraud, and almost any crime you can imagine can happen with more than one defendant. Anytime there is a case involving multiple defendants there is the possibility that one of the defendants will turn “state’s evidence”. In…
Many times a case has multiple defendants. A crime will occur and several people will get arrested. Some might be friends or they might be strangers to each other. But, like most events in our lives, we do what we do with people we know. So what happens when several…
Defendant was charged with residential burglary. The young man was Hispanic and was known to associate with gang members. He denied being a gang member himself but the police were constantly stopping him and conducting interviews in “consensual encounters”. He wasn’t consenting to being stopped by the police but unless…
My client was represented by another lawyer for 18 months. Not satisfied with the fact that his lawyer wanted him to plead guilty to stabbing two people at a party (violations of Penal Code Section 245(a)) he hired me. The Defendant told me he had been to a party where…
In California a Defendant is entitled to a dismissal following successful completion of probation or earlier if discharged from probation before the end of the probationary period. (Penal Code Section 1203.4) However, a dismissal under the provisions of PC 1203.4 does not expunge the conviction from the record. Expungement commonly…
Almost everyone has heard of Double Jeopardy. The Constitution prevents you being tried twice for the same offense. There even was at least one movie called Double Jeopardy. However, what happens when you are arrested for one offense, plead guilty, and then the police discover evidence of a second offense…
Assault is defined in Penal Code Section 240 as “…an unlawful attempt, coupled with a present ability, to commit a violent injury on the person of another.” Assault often is charged at the same time as a Battery, which is defined in Penal Code Section 242. Penal Code Section 242…
Recently, many law abiding people have been faced with loss of drug insurance coverage or loss of medical benefits altogether. When this happens and they still need prescription medications for severe pain it can lead to the temptation of forging prescriptions for medications. Prescription drug fraud also often occurs when…
What exactly are the elements of a violation of California Vehicle Code Section 23152? What does it take to prove you are driving in violation of CVC 23152? First of all, a violation of CVC 23152, or commonly called “drunk driving”, can occur in one of two ways. One can…