Southern California Defense Blog

The Orange County Child Molestation Lawyers at Wallin & Klarich have learned that a former Orange County priest has plead guilty to charges of molesting a 7 year-old boy at a Costa Mesa church in 1994.

Denis Lyons, 78, of Seal Beach, admitted to four felony counts of lewd conduct with a child younger than 14 in a plea agreement with prosecutors.

Lyons' alleged victim says he was molested in 1994 and 1995 when he was in third grade at St. John the Baptist Catholic School.

Lyons was removed from the church in 2002 after admitting that he had inappropriate sexual relations with adults in 1993. He was also charged with molesting a boy in 1978, but the case was dropped because of a Supreme Court ruling that stopped the prosecution based upon the statue of limitations.

If you or a loved one is ever accused of a sex crime don’t even consider pleading guilty until you have spoken to the experienced Orange County Child Molestation Lawyers at Wallin & Klarich. You can contact our attorneys at 888-280-6839, or fill out our intake form for immediate assistance. When you call us, we’ll be there.

This is the type of case that the Riverside Child Molestation Defense Attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have successfully defended for decades.

A former San Diego County firefighter--awaiting trial on charges that he raped and photographed his unconscious fiancée in Murrieta--is now accused of molesting two young children, according to Riverside County Prosecutors.

William Robert Bolduc, a 56-year-old San Diego resident, has pleaded not guilty to rape and other sex charges filed in 2010 in connection with the case involving his fiancée. At a hearing in January at the Southwest Justice Center, Bolduc was arrested on four new felony counts of child molestation alleged to have occurred between 2004 and 2006.

Bolduc, who had been released from jail on his own recognizance after his arrest in March 2010, pleaded not guilty to the new charges, court records show. A judge on Wednesday set his bail at $4 million. He was booked into the Southwest Detention Center, and he’s now awaiting trial on charges that could result in decades of incarceration.

If you find yourself accused of any type of sex crime, including those involving child porn or
molestation, do not speak to authorities without first speaking to the California Child
Molestation Defense lawyers at Wallin & Klarich. You can reach us 24 hours a day, 7 days a
week at 888-749-0034, or fill out our intake form for immediate assistance.

Children can be a handful and they do require constant care and attention. It is not humanly possible, however, for a parent to be 100% attentive and aware of their children. Nonetheless, it is a criminal offense known as child endgangerment to place a child in a situation that will endanger its mental, emotional, or physical well-being.

If you place a child in a dangerous situation without taking steps to ensure the child’s safety, you can face misdemeanor or felony charges – even if the child never actually suffers any harm.

Obviously, you can incur this charge if you brutally beat or shake an infant (or leave the infant in the care of a violent person who endangers the infant). You can also incur this charge by leaving your child in a locked car on a hot day or by leaving your child alone in the house where there is easy access to dangerous chemicals and appliances.

In other words, you can be charged with child endangerment for being “criminally negligent,” or acting in a way that shows that you simply did not care about the safety of human life. This would be true even if you did not intend to injure or harm anyone.

A child endangerment is a wobbler that can be charged as either a felony or misdemeanor. You can potentially serve a jail sentence of up to one year in county jail or up to six years in state prison. A felony child endangerment conviction may also result in a strike pursuant to California’s Three Strike law.

California also has a body of Child Abuse laws that make it a crime to directly inflict pain upon a child. If you personally inflict physical pain on a child, you can face both child endangerment and child abuse charges.

In any case, Child Endangerment is a serious charge that calls for the skill and expertise of a criminal defense attorney. At Wallin & Klarich, our attorneys have been in practice for over 30 years and can help you achieve the best possible outcome. Call us today at 877-230-1528 or visit us online at www.wklaw.com. We will be there for you when you call.

Having a child taken away from you can be the most traumatic experience in a parent’s life. Very often children are wrongly separated from a parent because of false allegations or overzealous and unreasonable social workers.

It is far too easy for your children to be taken away by county social workers. A false abuse allegation made out of spite after a heated argument can have devastating personal and legal consequences for you. Not only are you wrongly deprived of your child, but you may suffer the social stigma of being a suspected child abuser.

In addition if a social worker concludes that the allegation is “substantiated” or even “inconclusive” your name may be added to the Child Abuse Central Index. This is not an index where you will ever want your name to appear.

Though social workers may mean well, the nature of their training and their work means they are often inclined to believe that child abuse has taken place, even when the evidence to support the child abuse claim is very slim. In some cases social workers will decide to remove a child from your home before they even have had a chance to interview you about the allegations.

Once your child is removed from your custody, you may find yourself in the child dependency court fighting for your child to be returned to you. Dependency court judges place significant weight on social worker reports, even when the report relies on hearsay and speculation.

This is why you need a Southern California juvenile dependency lawyer in your corner to do all we can to fight to have your child returned to your custody. You need to have someone at your side who knows the law and the facts and who will fiercely advocate for you so that you can be reunited with your child as soon as possible. If you are going through a child dependency case, contact Wallin and Klarich immediately at (888) 749-7428 or visit us at our website at www.wkfamilylaw.com. Wallin and Klarich has been fighting for parents in the child dependency court for over thirty years. We will be there when you call. Read more about child dependency law at (insert the link to our child dependency)

The California Child Abuse Central Index ("CACI") is a tool created by the California Legislature to protect the health and safety of children. CACI is a list consisting of names of people who have been investigated or charged with child abuse. The primary purpose of CACI is to permit specified government agencies to locate prior reports detailing investigations of known or suspected child abuse or severe neglect.

Every law enforcement agency, probation department, social services, and some other government agencies must report to the Department of Justice every incident of suspected child abuse or sever neglect for which the agency conducts an investigation, and for which it determines that the allegations of child abuse or severe neglect are either substantiated or inconclusive. Such reports detail the investigation of alleged physical abuse, sexual abuse, mental or emotional abuse, severe neglect, willful child endangerment, unlawful corporal punishment, or death of a child.

It is extremely important to request a grievance hearing in order to remove an individual’s name from CACI. The individual’s personal information may remain on CACI for 10 years or longer, and it is shared by many agencies, which may affect your ability to secure employment with a state or a local government. If you seek to remove your name from CACI, you will need to contact an experienced family law attorney who will vigorously represent you at a grievance hearing. Call us today at (888) 764-2615 or visit us at our website at www.wklaw.com/areas-child-abuse-index-laws. We will be there when you call.

Children are viewed as particularly vulnerable members of society, so any perceived mistreatment or endangerment of their safety will be severely prosecuted. Under Penal Code 273a, child endangerment involves willfully causing or permitting a child to suffer physical or mental injury without taking steps to prevent it. This code section applies even if the child does not suffer any actual injury.

Child endangerment is a "wobbler" in that it can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony. As a misdemeanor offense, the penalties may include a sentence of up to one year in county jail. If charged as a felony, a child endangerment conviction may result in a two, four, or six-year sentence in state prison.

This crime requires that you acted willfully or in a manner that was criminally negligent in causing unjustifiable pain or suffering upon a child under 18 years of age. The same penalties will apply even if you had care or control over the child (as a parent or other caretaker). You may also be found in violation of P.C. 273a if you merely place the child in a situation in which the child may become endangered.

Child endangerment laws are very broad with its definitions and the lines are often blurred when it comes to distinguishing mere discipline from abuse or criminal negligence from momentary carelessness. As a result, parents who are normally caring and attentive toward their children oftentimes face charges of child endangerment.

A violation of P.C. 273a is not the same as child abuse, which involves directly causing corporal injury upon a child. Codified under California Penal Code Section 273d, child abuse laws punish physical abuse directed at a child that results in a "traumatic condition." This involves hitting, burning, or shaking a child that causes visible injuries. Child endangerment differs in that it involves placing the child in circumstances that could result in injury to the child.

It is impossible to expect parents to be absolutely vigilant of their children in light of the everyday realities of parenting. Unfortunately, this makes parents particularly susceptible to child endangerment charges. On occasions, parents have been charged for momentarily leaving their buckled infant in the car to return a shopping cart. They have even been charged for temporarily entrusting children to the care and custody of family or friends.

What Do I Do Now?Given the relative ease in which a parent can be wrongfully or unfairly charged with child endangerment, it is very important that you are aware of what to do if you are facing such charges:
l. Immediately contact Wallin and Klarich when you receive information you are under investigation by either children services or law enforcement

2. Do not speak to any member of law enforcement until you have retained legal counsel

3. Prepare a complete written summary of your version of events and submit them to your attorney

4. Compile a list of witnesses who can support your position

5. Prepare a social history explaining your background and submit this document to your lawyer

6. Do not discuss the facts of the case with anyone other than your attorneys.

At Wallin & Klarich, our attorneys have been in practice for over 30 years and will put their legal experience to use in defending your case. Children, by nature, are constantly attracting danger and are prone to accidents. As a parent, you should not be held criminally responsible for being unable to keep your child absolutely safe from all conceivable danger. Call us today at 888-749-0034 or visit us online at www.wklaw.com. We will be there for you when you call.

The Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) was created by the Legislature in 1965 as a tool for state and local agencies to help protect the health and safety of California’s children. Although the idea of protecting California’s children by establishing an index of known abusers is theoretically a good idea, the resulting outcome has been that many are listed on the index based on unsubstantiated claims against them.

Recent court decisions have mandated those who are placed on the index, must be given notice and an opportunity to have a hearing to remove name from the child abuse central index. Although this safeguard has ensured many to be excluded from the index, that otherwise would be listed, many feel that the safeguards and standards are insufficient.

Perhaps the most common criticism of CACI is the standard required to be placed on the index. For purposes of CACI, a person will be kept on the list if the child abuse claims are either deemed substantiated or inconclusive.

Most agree that if the claims are found to be substantiated, the inclusion of that person on CACI is warranted. However a fervent criticism comes from those that oppose listing people on the index when the claims against are found unsubstantiated. In those cases, the person will remain on CACI.

If you or a loved one has been placed on the Child Abuse Central Index, it is imperative that you hire an aggressive, experienced criminal defense firm. Hiring an experienced Orange County criminal defense law firm will ensure your rights are protected. The attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have been helping people for over 30 years.

Please feel free to contact Wallin & Klarich to discuss your case. You can reach us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 888-749-0034 or go to our website at www.wklaw.com for more information.

California Penal Code Section 273a defines child endangerment as any person causing great bodily harm or death to a child. This crime includes inflicting physical abuse upon a child, but also punishes any person who allows for a child to physically or mentally suffer. In other words, a person may be convicted of child endangerment if they cause any physical or mental harm to a child.

The definition of child endangerment as found in Penal Code Section 273a is very broad. If the defendant is accused of child endangerment the prosecution will have to prove that the defendant willfully inflicted unjustifiable physical or mental pain upon the child. The pain inflicted must be unjustifiable.

If the defendant did not cause the actual pain, he or she may still be convicted of child endangerment. This situation occurs when the defendant may have been responsible for allowing the child to be put in the position where great bodily harm or death occurred to the child. The prosecution will have to show that the defendant was responsible for the child when the pain was caused, and the defendant was criminally negligent.

There are many defenses to child endangerment. An obvious one is that the person injured must be a child. This means that the alleged victim must be under 18 years of age at the time of the alleged crime.

Another defense is that the law permits an adult to impose reasonable discipline upon their child. A parent may discipline a child in a reasonable manner, such as spanking. However, whether or not the “reasonable discipline” defense will be successful depends in great part upon the specific facts of each case. It is essential that any person being charged with child endangerment talk to a criminal defense attorney when they first discover that they are being accused of this serious crime.

Continue reading "I am Accused of Child Endangerment - What Should I Do? - California Penal Code Section 273a" »