California Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

Long Beach assault attorneys of Criminal Defense Team are currently defending a young man accused of assaulting another person and causing him serious bodily injury. The enhancement for serious bodily injury means that if convicted our client will have a “strike” or a serious and violent felony on his record. Needless to say, we intend to vigorously defend this case. What is particularly interesting about this case is that all parties agree that this was a case of voluntary combat. If this point is established then the question is whether the defendant used excessive force when engaging in the “mutual combat” and whether he tried to stop the fight and communicated that request to the other party. Our investigators will be reviewing all surveillance tapes and will attempt to contact all witnesses so that we can get to the truth. Violation of Penal Code Section 245 (assault) can be a felony and can expose a defendant to state prison time and the enhancement for serious bodily injury can add more prison time and the “strike.” Our Orange County Assault with a deadly weapon attorneys have handled many 245 cases and have achieved results satisfactory to our clients.

In a 90 page ruling which has started a floodgate of criticism, Judge Urbina dismissed the murder charges that were filed against Blacwater contractors who were accused of killing innocent Iraqi civilians in 2007. According to New York Times the issue was that the contractors who were considered government agents were obligated to give an immediate report of what they had done, however, the United States Constitution prevents the government from requiring a defendant to testify against himself, so those statements could not be used in the prosecution of the con tractors. The Warren court in Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493 (1967) established that government employees should not be coerced to give statements that can be used against them under the threat of unemployment. Orange County Felony Attorneys of Criminal Defense Team handle cases brought against government and public sector employees for such allegations as embezzlement, fraud, battery and assault. In embezzlement cases especially, protections provided by Garrity can be essential to a defendants case and anyone facing felony or misdemeanor embezzlement charges should consult with our Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys.