Fighting for your freedom
Certified Criminal Law Specialist
Former Deputy District Attorney
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The United States Supreme Court on January 11, 2012, rendered a decision in Perry v. New Hampshire, that limits the ability of the defense to successfully attack a suggestive or unreliable identification of the defendant by an eyewitness. Eyewitness identification has long been the subject of commentary and even experiments. Many of us have seen the video of or even participated in a situation where a professor has a classroom full of students when a subject rushes in steals the professor’s purse and the class is asked to describe the suspect. It’s incredible how varied the descriptions of the suspect are. Different facial features, races, clothing, height and weight and numerous other identifiers have been listed by witnesses seeing the same thing. How many times have you been in line at a theater, seen someone you think you recognize and been mistaken? It’s happened to all of us.

Stress of an unexpected, even scary, situation can affect one’s perception and ability to accurately identify suspects or describe events. On a personal note, I witnessed a car crash right in front of my eyes. I stopped, waited for the police, submitted to an interview, and was told that my account was completely “wrong”. Physical evidence and other eyewitnesses made it quite obvious that what I thought I had seen was just plain in error. I didn’t mean to mess it up or make a mistake, it just happens because when events occur quickly under unexpected conditions what we think we see isn’t always what actually happened.

Now, when a police officer investigates a crime and gets a description of the suspect from the victim he can just take the information or by his questions and technique he can influence the identification. For example, when a photograph of a suspect is shown to a victim several similar looking photos are used in a “six pack”. The eyewitness is asked to view the subjects, admonished it’s just as important to exonerate the innocent as to find the guilty person and just because a picture is in the “six pack” it doesn’t mean the perpetrator’s photo is contained in it. When that doesn’t happen and a singular photo is shown to a witness and no positive identification is made, what do you expect would happen if that same singular photo is placed in a subsequent “six pack” ? Isn’t that overly suggestive? Isn’t that type of police technique almost ensuring the identification of the photo of the singular photo individual? Of course it is. Once suggestive procedures like this one are used, the ultimate identification of the suspect (now defendant) taints the whole process. Now you will never know if the identification is the product of what the eyewitness saw or the suggestive procedure used by the police.

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Recently, a video was seen on television showing a Los Angeles Sheriff’s Deputy questioning a woman on a train. The woman was facing two deputies. One was a woman and one a man. Both deputies were in uniform and both were substantially larger than the woman they were contacting. During the conversation another passenger began to video the incident. After the woman appeared to be non-responsive, or at least not responding as the deputies would like, the male deputy suddenly elbowed her in the face with a violent and vicious forearm. Upon seeing the passenger videotaping the incident the deputy tried to seize the cell phone. The citizen refused to turn over his cell phone to the deputy fearing the video would be erased or tampered with and the true nature of the incident lost forever.

First of all, a citizen does not have to relinquish his or her video equipment to law enforcement just because they demand it. It is your personal property and without further justification, for example a search warrant, unless the citizen voluntarily surrenders it, your personal property is just that, yours. In this case, I have no doubt that if the deputy had taken possession of the citizen’s camera that video would have been destroyed.

Secondly, in defending people charged with crimes I have learned that the truth of exactly what happened isn’t always reflected accurately in the police reports. Now that video has become so easy and so available to anyone with a cell phone, many times the incidents between citizens and law enforcement are captured on video. One can argue that the video doesn’t capture the whole incident or that it somehow misrepresents what happened or what occurred before the camera was turned on, but one cannot deny the truth that cameras help criminal defendants more than they hurt. I would much rather have a video of the encounter between the police and my client. With video cameras the jury and anyone else can see what really happened and no amount of spin in the police reports will disguise the truth.

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On January 23, 2012, the United States Supreme Court issued it’s decision in United States v. Jones. The Jones decision is noteworthy because it requires law enforcement to obtain a warrant when using a GPS device. A look at the facts in Jones is necessary to understand the Court’s reasoning.

The Government obtained a search warrant which allowed it to install a GPS tracking device on a car registered to Jones’ wife. The warrant authorized the GPS to be installed within 10 days of the issuance of the search warrant. The agents waited until the 11th day to install the device (after the expiration of the warrant). Then the Government tracked the vehicle’s movements for 28 days.

As a result of the tracking of the vehicle an indictment was issued charging Jones with drug trafficking and conspiracy. The trial court issued a split decision when Jones moved to suppress the evidence obtained by use of the GPS device, stating when the vehicle was parked at Jones’ house it was an illegal search but when it was on the public streets there wasn’t any expectation of privacy and therefore no illegal search. Jones was convicted and appealed.

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How many criminal cases are in the courthouse that don’t belong there? Plenty, that’s clear from a recent case in the Los Angeles County Court. A homeowner gets cited for his dog running loose. The citation is for a misdemeanor because the County Ordinance carries the possibility of six months in jail for each violation. If a criminal defendant is subject to a jail sentence then certain rights apply.

The United States Constitution guarantees due process, right to a jury trial, confrontation of one’s accuser by the defendant, and the right to remain silent, among other rights. All these rights apply in California when a defendant is facing jail time for a violation of law.

But, surely, the dog owner isn’t facing real jail time for letting his dog run loose….is he? If the law that is violated is a misdemeanor, then all the above rights apply no matter how absurd the possibility of jail time is. Therefore, if the dog owner wants a Public Defender, at tax payer expense, and he is indigent, he is going to get the Public Defender. The Public Defender is an attorney, with clerical staff, office costs, investigators, and with an overwhelming case load of needy clients. Yet, no matter, the dog owner gets a lawyer at government expense.

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Getting assigned to vice as a police officer is tough assignment. Often times the required duties take the officer into dangerous situations. Quick thinking is often a necessity. Tension can build to the breaking point. How to relieve all that tension? The vice cop has found the answer. He gets a massage.

Massage parlors are apparently a hot bed (pun intended) of prostitution activity. Many massage salons are being raided by undercover police officers. Of course, they’re only under cover for a short period of time. But, while being uncovered, I mean undercover, they get their muscles kneaded, their backs oiled, their limbs stroked, hot towels applied, and tired sore bodies cared for from head to toe, all by young women who tend to their needs as though they were real paying customers without a law enforcement agenda. The tax payer dollars paid to find prostitution occurring behind closed doors and under warm towels is truly money well spent. Or is it?

Vice squads are combing the massage salons looking for young women who would offer sexual services in return for money. Negotiations for these services have to be realistic in order to arrest the offending party. In order to enforce the realism, undercover officers of the vice squad must frequent various massage salons and put their bodies through torturous episodes as described above. Once sufficient stroking has occurred, how long and how much is subject to ones’ individual ability to withstand the torture, the “bust signal” can be given. One has to hope that the “gotcha” moment doesn’t come too soon and the bust has to be aborted due to circumstances beyond the undercover officer’s control. In that case, one would assume, the bust does not occur and the tax payer money spent on the massage wasn’t wasted because, well, the officer did get a good massage.

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Recently, in Texas, a man was freed after serving 25 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. The Innocence Project was successful in overturning the conviction of Michael Morton when a piece of evidence in his case was re-tested and found not to contain the DNA of Morton but of another man. One of the most interesting aspects of this case isn’t that DNA exonerated Morton, but that other evidence that was in the DA’s possession at the time of the trial was withheld from the defense. This evidence was exculpatory, or in other words, tended to help prove Morton’s innocence.

It was only after trial when one of the prosecutors was overheard telling a juror that Morton’s file was several inches thick , that the defense had any inkling of the existence of other evidence. In fact, the victim’s credit card was used by a suspect days after the murder during a time period that Morton could not have been involved in any use of the victim’s credit card. Furthermore, a witness told the prosecution that a suspicious man had been seen near the victim’s home seemingly casing the residence days before the break in and murder in the home. None of this was disclosed to the defense prior to trial.

The importance of the evidence is clear to anyone with an ounce of common sense. If the thief/murderer took the victim’s property and used the stolen credit card and it wasn’t Morton, then maybe Morton wasn’t the killer. If a man, not Morton, was seen acting suspiciously in the area of the murder than perhaps he was the killer and not Morton.

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As almost everyone on planet earth knows, Dr. Conrad Murray was convicted of Involuntary Manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson. On November 29, 2011, Dr. Murray was sentenced to the maximum term of four years in State Prison. How did the judge determine that four years was the appropriate sentence?

The cynical among us might just say that because the deceased was the most famous pop star in the world that the judge would have been crazy to give Dr. Murray anything less than the maximum. Those of that opinion could easily conclude the public expected the maximum and therefore why would the judge do something that would enrage the public and possibly cost him his job in the next election? Those cynical enough to believe that would think the discussion would end right there. But, what did the judge have to do under the law in order to justify the maximum sentence? The answer can be found in the Rules of Court.

The Rules of Court set forth the criteria affecting probation (Rule 4.414). Dr. Murray was technically eligible for probation, no matter how unlikely that might have been as a practical matter. There are two sub-sets to consider: facts that relate to the crime and facts that relate to the defendant.

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Dr. Murray killed Michael Jackson. No doubt about it since the jury found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter. He got sentenced to the maximum term of four years. Dr. Murray won his case when he got convicted. How can I say that when he went through a hard fought trial that lasted weeks and cost him and the taxpayers millions of dollars? According to the evidence, he lied to the paramedics, failed to call 911 in a timely fashion, treated his patient with an extremely dangerous drug under circumstances that failed to meet the most minimum of medical standards among a host of other omissions and commissions. So involuntary manslaughter was the charge and guilty was the verdict. Who says the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office can’t win the big ones? Who says that the District Attorney’s Office loses one high profile case after another? They got their man here didn’t they? Well, yes and no as far as I’m concerned.

Yes, the LADA got a conviction as charged. But, why only charge Dr. Murray with Involuntary Manslaughter? Why not seek a Second Degree Murder conviction? Why not charge both Murder and Involuntary Manslaughter? Based on the facts as presented by the prosecution, the jury could very easily have found Dr. Murray guilty of Second Degree Murder. Why? The real question is why not?

To find a defendant guilty of second degree murder you must look to CalCrim Section 520 which sets out the elements of Second Degree Murder. To prove this is the real crime Dr. Murray is guilty of the DA needed to prove the following: The defendant committed the act that caused the death of Michael Jackson and when he acted he had a state of mind of malice aforethought. The relevant malice element here is implied. Did Murray’s actions consist of the following: 1. Did he intentionally commit an act, and; 2. The natural and probable consequences of the act were dangerous to human life, and; 3. At the time he acted, he knew his act was dangerous to human life, and; 4. He deliberately acted with conscious disregard for human life. Ask yourself, from the facts of this case, wasn’t this the proper charge?

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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a real problem in our veterans returning from combat deployments. Many times the conditions are not diagnosed until the veteran becomes a defendant in the criminal justice system. How the criminal justice system deals with these defendants is a great challenge in the future.

The Veteran’s Court has been instituted in some courts in California in an effort to acknowledge the veteran’s service and deal with it in an organized, comprehensive fashion complete with Veteran’s Administration participation. Yet, what happens to the veteran who doesn’t qualify for Veteran’s Court? While Veteran’s Court is a great alternative when available, in some jurisdictions, Veteran’s Court doesn’t even exist. Now Veteran’s Court funding, as all the system’s funding, is at risk.

The prosecutor who is willing to consider the defendant’s service in a meaningful way has many options at his disposal, short of entry into Veteran’s Court. A criminal defense attorney needs to present a creative alternative to a conviction or a jail sentence to the prosecutor. For example, a criminal case could be delayed with the requirement that the defendant attend counseling, job training, and medical evaluation. Community service is an option that could be added to any delay or continuance of the proceedings. The goal of the delay would be to show the prosecutor that the defendant deserves a second chance. The defendant must be willing to meet his obligation to overcome the issues that brought him to the criminal justice system’s attention. If drugs or alcohol are the cause of criminal conduct, the defendant has to meet the challenges that addiction brings. In-house residential treatment instead of jail time should be considered as an option. Out-patient follow up with vocational training showing the prosecutor that this defendant is not likely to re-offend is a must.

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Veteran’s Day is celebrated once every year by the country. Yet the sacrifice by our veterans is not always so easily recognized any day in the current criminal court system.

Often times I represent men and women who have served our country both in actual combat and in supporting roles. These individuals find themselves traumatized by their service experience to the United States of America. When they come home, all too often there are difficulties coping with day to day life. Sometimes hurdles seem too high to overcome. Depression can set in. Self-medication with drugs and alcohol can become an unhealthy and illegal fix to problems that seem overwhelming.

Once the veteran turns to drugs and alcohol he encounters the criminal justice system. When that happens, what role should the veteran’s military service play in the disposition of the case? I think that the veteran deserves every consideration possible under the law. The prosecutor should evaluate the case understanding that the veteran’s (defendant’s) service has helped protect the very system he now finds himself in.

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