Members of The House of representatives are proposing legislation that offers a more sensible legal approach to the use of Marijuana.There have been 20 million marijuana-related arrests since 1965and 11 million since 1990, and "every 38 seconds, a marijuana smoker is arrested.Rob Kampia, director...
It is a widely known fact that the conflict between drug laws in California has created a bit of a headache from time to time on certain L.A. criminal defense matters. The challenge is that there is more than one conflict, one between the state of California and the federal government, another be...
Under California criminal law and procedure, an accused who is tried as an adult is typically 18 years old or older.Individuals under 18 typically receive far more lenient treatment in juvenile court and/or a stay in juvenile hall if they are convicted. They usually do not face the risk of county...
A bill proposed in February of this year in the California State Assembly, AB 2417, would supposedly strengthen victims' rights by paying out more money for witnesses accounts in certain circumstances, provide leeway in "hear-say" rulings and increase prison time for certain offenses.Amongst othe...
Organized crime and gang activity are situations that police, the media and politicians often pay great attention to, and this leads to laws that can be extremely harsh for those accused of belonging to a gang. Many reports have surfaced of late about feet washing up on shore in the Pacific North...
Criminal prosecutions in Southern California, for the most serious offenses such as murder, rape, and kidnapping, frequently rely on DNA to identify the suspect. This evidence is often hotly contested by L.A. criminal lawyers in jury trials. Besides the typical problems with collection and proper...
A Driving Under the Influence conviction most likely bring with it some form of probation, whether or not jail time is involved. Probation usually gives a certain length of time in which the convicted must stay clear of similar convictions. For example, Khloe Kardashian, featured on E! Entertainm...
Internet downloading of child pornography has been a hot-button law enforcement issue in the past year. Los Angeles criminal lawyers are seeing more and more arrests, through the cooperation of local L.A. police department and federal agents.Criminal defense attorneys should be aware that the U.S...
A parole search is often used by police officers to justify a warrantless search of a car or home - when they know a subject is on parole. The search does not justify searching someone who is with the parolee, without separate legal justifications. Los Angeles criminal lawyers can file a Motion t...
In 1994, California enacted the infamous Three Strikes Laws which handed down mandatory and extended periods of incarceration to persons who have been convicted of a serious criminal offense on three or more separate occasions. Since that time, prison populations have increased 25%, showing they ...
Pro Se representation, or representing yourself in court/acting as your own legal counsel, is highly controversial, to say the least. In most cases that receive media attention, a violent criminal with a questionable mental state defends himself/herself. However, the practice isn't that uncommon,...
Defending charges involving a life sentence is challenging, but not impossible. Experienced Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys, especially who are former trial prosecutors, often undertake the defense of charges involving murder, manslaughter, and other types of homicide.Mark Everett, former ...
Los Angeles Criminal Lawyers are sometimes hired to defend cases of animal cruelty. While rare, the charges often bring public outrage. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office even created a Special Unit to prosecute such cases.A homeless man in Los Angeles was arrested and charged with...
A recent decision by the California Supreme Court Verdin v. Superior Court, wrestled with the issue of "diminished actuality" or "diminished capacity." This describes an individual's mental capacity as it pertains to the ability to have the mental will to commit a crime. This term can be used by ...
Criminal Defese Attorneys in Los Angeles have to be mindful of police misconduct being a reality. A Pitchess Motion, previously discussed in the Criminal Law Blog, is a method through which defense lawyers are able to access prior evidence of police misconduct through personnel records. Here is a...
In Louisiana a law was passed that would allow a judge or jury to sentence an individual convicted of raping a child to the death penalty, however The Supreme Court of the United States struck this law down. This law was passed even though it has been 44 years since someone in America was sentenc...
The media makes a big deal about white collar crime on Wall Street, with backroom deals and embezzlement seemingly around every corner, but Crenshaw Blvd. isn't all that different from Wall Street when it comes to white collar crimes. Fraud, embezzlement, theft and other such crimes have ruined t...
Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorneys frequently encounter cases where there are claims of domestic violence and abuse. These typically take the falls within one of two different scenarios: (1)a long-lasting abusive relationship or (2)unpredictable violence by one or both parties at the time of ...
On the assumption that all readers will have by now be informed of the ridiculous (beastial pictures on judicial websites) and the sublime (yesterday's Supreme Court decision affirming the availability of habeas corpus for Guantanamo prisoners), let me deal with something in between: two defense ...
Dennis Farina, star of the television show "Law & Order" and the movie "Get Shorty," was arrested on weapons charges for bringing a gun to an airport.Back in May, the 64-year-old actor was booked in the felony case for possessing a case with a semiautomatic .22 gun. The actor spent a day in the V...
Child pornography is illegal, and there is very little leniency in the law. With the ease with which individuals are able to obtain child pornography via the Internet, state, local and federal law enforcement officials have increasingly been looking to crack down on potential violators. The Supre...
Every so often a new medium for communication comes along and brings with it a new field for the law. The Internet is nothing new in terms of historic advancements in the technology, however it is a new arena for the law. Internet crimes are many, and they include everthing from identity theft to...
Southern California has a number of factors affecting it which causes the laws throughout the state to often look strange to the rest of the nation. One such factor is the border that California shares with Mexico. Prosecuting drug laws can be difficult due to the challenges of having to extradit...
As of May 18 of this year, there were 315 murders in the city of Los Angeles. For a city with 4 million or so people, that's not a very high number, however a further look into those statistics reveal not only a terrible reality, but a scary revelation of present day LA.Of those 315 murders, 269 ...
L.A. criminal attorneys turn to Penal Code Section 1054 which requires that the prosecutors provide all reports, witness statements, physical evidence, videotapes, photographs, etc. By reviewing what the police has gathered as part of its investigation, the defense is able to be ready to contest ...
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