After a Long Fight With the District Attorney, Some Defendants Find their Biggest Opponent is the Department of Probation
After a Long Fight With the District Attorney, Some Defendants Find their Biggest Opponent is the Department of Probation
Many criminal cases are resolved by plea agreements between the district attorney's office and defense attorney. These plea agreements may be drawn out for months and require multiple court dates for the two sides to finally come to an agreement. After all the time and energy spent on a plea agreement, some defendants have the unfortunate experience of having the Department of Probation recommend a harsher sentence. Typically, after a…
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Long Beach Reckless Driving and DUI Defense Lawyers
The city of Long Beach is situated along the Pacific coast in Southern California. Long Beach boasted a population of 492,682 in January 2009, making it the second-largest city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Most known for being home to one of the world's biggest shipping ports, the Port of Long Beach, the city is also a prominent contributor to the development of aerospace industry and high-technology. As more…
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Challenging Co-Defendant’s Statement
An Experienced Defense Attorney Will Fight for Any Incriminating Statements by a Defendant or a Co-Defendant to be Inadmissible A defendant has the right to challenge a statement made by a co-defendant or other third party on the ground that is was involuntary. A defendant has this right despite the fact that the defendant is not the one who made the statement. In order for the statement to be involuntary…
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Without Proper Regulation, Prosecutorial Misconduct is Likely to Continue
What this Means for Criminal Defendants and their Attorneys Last year, Ted Stevens, the 85-year-old former Senator from Alaska was convicted of corruption charges. Charges against Stevens played a pivotal role in voters failing to reelect the seven-term senator to office. But months after jurors found Stevens guilty, the Attorney General dismissed the case citing prosecutorial misconduct. This case is a prime example of the potential for misconduct by both…
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DNA Evidence Receives a Boost
Why Having an Experienced Criminal Defense Attorney On Your Side Could Help You Avoid a False Conviction DNA evidence has always been thought to be the infallible wave of the future; however, new information could change this perspective. Even though every person's DNA is unique, and every trace of a person's DNA that is left behind will be identical, the testing methods available today cannot compare every single gene in…
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Can Police Knock On My Front Door When Acting Solely On an Anonymous and Uncorroborated Tip?
Numerous Court of Appeal cases have approved the police practice of "knock and talk" based entirely on an anonymous and uncorroborated tip. Recently, the California Supreme Court stated, "even if acting on an anonymous tip, police may knock on the door of a residence, speak with the occupant, and request permission to enter and search" People v. Rivera, 41 Cal.4th 304 (2007). An aggressive and experienced Orange County criminal defense…
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San Diego Reckless Driving and DUI Attorneys
San Diego is the eighth biggest city in population in the United States. Located in the Southwest area of California along the Pacific Ocean, San Diego is 372.1 square miles in size. With its closeness to beautiful beaches and other relaxing areas, San Diego is a major tourist center in the state of California. San Diego's economy relies heavily on manufacturing (home to companies such as Qualcomm Incorporated), defense (home…
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U.S. Attorney Misconduct Leads to Another Overturned Conviction
Why Having an Experienced Criminal Defense Attorney Can Make a Difference A U.S. District Judge recently ruled that supermarket mogul George Torres did not get a fair trial after it was discovered that the federal prosecutors failed to provide the defense with evidence that harmed the credibility of two key witnesses. This failure to disclose led to the dismissal of racketeering and other charges that were based on the testimony.…
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Facebook Poll on Assassination of President Leads to Criminal Investigations: Why It’s Never Too Early to Hire an Attorney
The Secret Service is investigating an online survey that asked whether people thought President Obama should be assassinated. The poll was quickly taken off of the popular social networking site, Facebook, after company officials were alerted to its existence. The Associated Press reports that the poll asked questions like "Should Obama be killed? No, Maybe, Yes and Yes if he cuts my health care. Facebook officials say that they are…
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Crime Down in Los Angeles
The Los Angles County Sheriff's department announced this week that the overall crime rate in Los Angeles County has dropped in 2009! According to its statistics, property crimes dropped 11% compared to 2008. Moreover, homicides in Los Angeles County dropped 23.5% compared to 2008, the biggest drop in any category. All this comes amidst an extremely high unemployment rate throughout Los Angeles County, of which was at 12.3% in August…
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