California Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

A passenger in a vehicle driven by a woman arrested on suspicion of DUI died recently in a local hospital, The Orange County Register reports.

This will likely lead to more serious charges against the driver, setting up the possibility that she be sentenced to years in prison, if she is convicted. DUI charges in Irvine and throughout California are serious and bring with them some of the toughest penalties on the books for misdemeanors in California. When an accident is involved, felony charges often result. That's why fighting them is critical and must be countered with an aggressive Orange County Criminal Defense Attorney.

According to the news story, an accident happened recently on the southbound I-5 freeway near Disneyland Drive in Anaheim. The male passenger died about four hours after the accident at UCI Medical Center.

The female driver was arrested on suspicion of felony driving under the influence and was being treated at the hospital with major injuries. Passengers in a car they hit were treated for minor injuries.

According to the California Highway Patrol, the driver of the pickup was driving in the third lane at a "high rate of speed" when the driver allegedly changed lanes to the four lane and struck the left rear corner of the car. The truck skidded off the main lanes and traveled out of control onto a steep dirk embankment. The truck struck a bridge and rotated several times before coming to rest in the first lane, the CHP report states.

According to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, there were more than 208,000 DUI arrests statewide in 2009, the most recent statistics available. But arrests were actually down from 215,000 in 2008.

The majority of the arrests for DUI were misdemeanor arrests -- 202,954. That leaves 5,577 felony DUI arrests. The agency reports that 41 percent of cases where a person dies in an accident, alcohol is involved. One percent of the cases involved drug use. Of the arrests, 132,709 arrests were first-time offenders.

While this is one of the least sophisticated crimes a person can commit -- and therefore easily the most common charge law enforcement officers make -- they also carry some of the steepest penalties for even a misdemeanor offense and first-time defendant.

Consider the penalties for a first-time offender charged with DUI:

-Up to six months in jail
-Up to a $1,000 fine
-A six-month driver's license suspension
-Completion of DUI school
-Possible installation of an ignition interlock device

While charged as a misdemeanor, it carries all these possible penalties.

That's why taking an aggressive approach to the charge is necessary. Facing this charge can result in job loss, loss of reputation in the community and cause problems at home. There is also a huge financial burden put on a person who is convicted.

Continue reading " Disneyland-area Fatal Accident Leads to DUI Arrest in Anaheim " »

A recent story out of Rancho Santa Margarita highlights the importance of aggressively fighting an Orange County sex crime -- the fact that a conviction stays with a defendant for the rest of their life.

According to the news article, published by the Rancho Santa Margarita Patch, a convicted sex offender was charged with annoying a child under 18 and he will face a felony because of his past convictions. Orange County Criminal Defense Attorneys understand that there is a stigma attached to sex crimes and that it is easy for politicians to look good in the public eye by condemning these defendants and increasing penalties, but sex crimes are the one type of crime a person can face and be penalized for life, years after serving time for the crime.

That's because certain defendants convicted of sex crimes must be registered in the California Sex Offender Registry under Megan's Law as well as in the United States Department of Justice Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website.

In California, there are more than 33,500 offenders registered in the website, which is accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. It includes information such as the person's name, address, photo, tattoos or other identifiable marks and other information.

So, even years or decades after a person is convicted of a crime and after they have served time as a punishment, they can be punished again with these state and national registries. They are forced to register with the local law enforcement agency where they live, work and frequent and neighbors may get fliers telling them they are living nearby.

And the registry doesn't apply only to people convicted of violent sex crimes, as one might expect.

In Rancho Santa Margarita, police arrested a 46-year-old man who authorities say was following a 13-year-old girl around a grocery store. After the girl's mother confronted the man, he drove off, but she wrote down his license plate. She used the state's sex offender registry, searching hundreds of photos before settling on this man's photo and telling authorities.

Because the man is on active parole and was wearing a GPS surveillance monitor at the time, authorities were able to pinpoint his location at the time of the incident and use surveillance footage to make the arrest.

In this case, the state's registry led to this man's arrest, though he hasn't been convicted. And based on his prior history, it's possible it made the decision by law enforcement officers to charge him with a felony that much easier.

Continue reading " Orange County Sex Crimes Stay With a Defendant Forever " »

After a four year battle by lawmakers in Georgia, the state has a new law dealing with victims of human trafficking, The Associated Press reports.

Under the new law, people who are the victim of trafficking can't be prosecuted for sex crimes. It is common for those forced into servitude be used to prostitute themselves to make money for others. Commonly, women are hooked on drugs by their pimps and forced to work to feed their drug habit.

Orange County Criminal Defense Lawyers applaud that aspect of the law because a girl brought from a foreign country and forced into modern-day slavery shouldn't be charged with a crime. But there are other aspects of the new law that are troublesome, especially for those charged with sex crimes in Orange County and elsewhere.

Also under the new law, according to The Associated Press, someone who is convicted of coercing to traffic someone under 18 has to serve a minimum of 25 years in prison. Anyone who pays to have sex with someone under 18 faces at least five years in prison, while the penalty jumps to 10 years if the person is 16.

The measure includes protections that allow a prostituted child or adult to avoid charges if they can prove they were coerced into it. Coercion can mean physical abuse, but also financial harm, destruction of immigration documents and drug use. And victims can be eligible to receive state money for treatment if they cooperate with law enforcement.

While the new law does provide protection for those forced into prostitution against their will, the penalties seem a bit out of whack. And it is likely that most people who pay to have sex don't check the age of the person with whom they're sleeping. This is another potential flaw in the new legislation, which could leave a defendant open to excessive penalties.

Politicians are quick to jump on hot-button topics to show they're "tough on crime."

Consider this: In Georgia, manslaughter -- the killing of a person in the heat of passion after provocation -- is punishable by 1 to 20 years in prison. So, in Georgia, you can kill a person and serve less time, possibly only one year in prison, than if you are convicted under this new law.

The Associated Press cites advocates that say the Georgia law could be a model for other states seeking to fight the sex trade, but it is concerning that while tough penalties can be a deterrent, they can lead to overcrowded prisons and jails and lead to unfair treatment in the criminal justice system. California is already dealing with an order to release thousands of inmates from its crowded prisons.

It's possible that California politicians will look at the Georgia law and try to run with it to show that they, too, are "tough on crime." But Orange County Criminal Defense Lawyers hope that sound reason and research go into a law in California and that they don't just jump to try to satisfy the public.

Continue reading " Georgia Sex Trafficking Law Goes Into Effect and May Influence Orange County Sex Cases " »

Do a quick Google search you can find nearly 1.5 million results in less than a second for "Caylee's Law." While it hasn't become a law in any state or under federal guidelines, politicians are rushing to cash in on the public's outrage in order to boost their re-election hopes.

Caylee's Law, as proposed, would make it a felony if a parent doesn't report a child missing within 24 hours or if they fail to report the death of a child within an hour. Rarely do gut-reaction bills make for good laws, but it is likely that somewhere, it will be a law. Some are pushing for this type of law on a federal level, while 16 states have already had lawmakers propose similar bills, The Associated Press reports.

Orange County Criminal Defense Lawyers believes that rushing to push through this type of legislation is irresponsible and continues the trend of laws named after crime victims that play more to emotion than reason. Though they have become predictable, these laws usually get pushed through legislatures without applying common sense first.

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you probably have some knowledge about the Casey Anthony trial in Orlando, Florida. In 2008, her daughter Caylee went missing from their home. Casey Anthony failed to report her missing and after five months her mother finally reported her missing.

Casey Anthony was charged with first-degree murder, manslaughter and other related charges, but a jury recently found her only guilty of four counts of lying to police. She initially told detectives a babysitter abducted the child and other lies. But her jury found her not guilty of the murder and manslaughter charges after the state failed to prove its case with no physical evidence linking the girl's mother to the crime.

A recent column in The Huffington Post makes some good points about the rush to push through legislation. For one, a high-profile media case like the one of Caylee Anthony isn't representative of what normally happens in courthouses across the country. Juries usually get it right, but when prosecutors fail to prove a case or a defense lawyer outsmarts the state, people get all bent out of shape. Among the columnists points, this stands out:

"Even more regrettable is that every time a Casey Anthony-type trial captures the public's attention, someone gets the idea that we need a new law in response to the completely unrepresentative case, a law that presumably would have prevented that particularly travesty from happening. The problem, of course, is that the new law -- usually poorly written and passed in a fit of hysteria -- is too late to apply to the case it was designed for. But it does then apply to everyone else."

Activist Michelle Crowder came up with the 24-hour and 1-hour time limits, though she recently told CNN she didn't consult with any law enforcement before coming up with the idea, which has gone viral on the Internet and caused droves of people to call and email their lawmakers to push for such a bill. There may be no way to even show when a child went missing or when the child died, so this law could prove to be pointless anyway.

Despite when unrealistic crime television shows may portray, it is nearly impossible for medical examiners to determine the time of death of a person who has died. It is often difficult to nail down how a person died, let alone what the exact time was.

The column also brings up these important points in this ill-conceived law, such as:

What if the child dies during the night and isn't discovered until the morning?

What if a parent or guardian falls asleep and a child dies playing outside? Neglect maybe, but a felony punishable by prison time?

How do you pinpoint when a child goes missing? From the time it was discovered or from the time the child gets abducted, if the child is ever found?

If a family is on a camping trip and a child drowns, but no one has cell phone service are the parents going to be charged with a crime?

This proposed law has many problems and while it is being proposed based on anger rather than sound reasoning, it is our hope that reasonable lawmakers take a look at these proposals and make law that can help rather than hurt.

Continue reading " Caylee's Law a Bad Gut Reaction to the Public's Mob-Like Mentality After the Casey Anthony Trial " »

A retired police chief from Huntington Park recently worked out a plea deal that will keep him out of jail and keep him from having to register as a sex offender after exposing himself to women and leaving lewd photos of himself on hiking trails in Anaheim, The Orange County Register reports.

Sex crimes in Anaheim can range from what most people think of -- sexual assaults, rapes and groping -- to actions of a sexual nature, such as exposing oneself in public, peeping and other crimes. While the more serious crimes can result in serious prison time, sometimes decades, one consequence some people don't think of is having to register as a sex offender for life.

Anaheim Criminal Defense Lawyers have seen many cases where those who commit minor or inadvertent crimes are subjected to the same requirement as a predator who sexually assaulted a child. It is our goal in cases like this to convince prosecutors through the evidence and the character of the defendant.

According to the newspaper report, the former police chief, 56, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of prowling and one count of vehicle tampering. He will have to spend three years on probation, do 150 hours of community service and pay $176 in fees. His firearms were confiscated but will be returned upon completion of his probation.

According to police, the first incident involving the man happened last fall, when a woman found a photograph of male genitalia near a running trail at Oak Canyon Road. The woman had seen similar photos of male and female genitalia in the area, but hadn't called police.

A few weeks later, a man exposed himself to a woman hiking on a trial near Toyon Park. A few days after that, a group of women reported returning to their cars to find photos of male genitalia on the windshields of their cars. A fingerprint on one of the photos and a description of the man who exposed himself led detectives to the retired police chief, who was working in Kosovo to improve security for the police department there when a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Along with jail or prison time, which likely would have been troublesome for the ex-police chief, he also avoided having to register as a sex offender. Megan's Law in California requires the public have Internet access to detailed information on registered sex offenders. So, anyone in California can see where registered sex offenders are living, what they look like and other details on the California Department of Justice web site.

Many believe this is a powerful tool for people to keep their children safe and even a deterrent for those who may consider committing a sex crime, but it also can be unfair to some people convicted of sex-related crimes.

As stated before, people can be charged with sex crimes that aren't nearly as serious as others, such as statutory rape in Orange County. While statutory rape, having consensual sex with a person under 18, doesn't generally require registering as a sex offender, it can. California Penal Code 290 lays out which offenses a person must be convicted of to register as a sex offender.

Orange County Criminal Defense Lawyers are committed to standing beside our clients, regardless of the circumstances. We will provide defendants will sound legal advice and vigorous criminal defense representation if charged with a sex crime.

Continue reading " Retired Huntington Park Police Chief Gets Sweet Deal in Lewd Photos Case " »