Conviction Reversed and Defendant Wins New Trial After Appeal is Granted: You Have the Right to a Fair Trial
Conviction Reversed and Defendant Wins New Trial After Appeal is Granted: You Have the Right to a Fair Trial
The California Court of Appeal in People v. Hernandez found that when an armed sheriff stood behind the defendant while the defendant was testifying this violated the defendant's right to a fair trial. An experienced defense attorney knows that there are many factors a court may not consider in ensuring the defendant's right to a fair trial. The Court of Appeal found for the defense; the use of an armed…
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Do Standardized Field Sobriety Tests Accurately Assess a Driver’s Mental and Physical Impairment?
During a California DUI detection process, the officer screens (or tests) a driver prior to making an arrest decision. The pre-arrest screening phase starts out with the administration of the standardized field sobriety tests. These tests are said to be designed to assess a driver's mental and physical impairment. The three most commonly used field sobriety tests are: horizontal gaze nystagmus walk and turn test one-leg stand test The walk…
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Hollywood DUI and Criminal Defense Attorneys
Hollywood is a well-known district in Los Angeles, California located just west-northwest of Downtown LA. Hollywood is most known for being the historical center of movie stars and movie studios. A few out of many landmarks in Hollywood include the Hollywood Bowl, Capitol Records, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, the Shrine Auditorium, and the Griffith Park Observatory. According to the 2000 census, 210,777 people lived in Hollywood with a population density of…
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Supreme Court Rules that Juvenile “Strikes” Can be Used Under Three Strikes Law
Why You Need an Experienced Three Strikes Criminal Defense Law Firm In the recent case of Superior Court v. Nguyen held that a juvenile who was adjudicated a ward of the court in Juvenile Court for a crime that would be considered a strike under California Three Strike Laws will count as a strike if that juvenile offender commits another felony. In a 6-1 Supreme Court decision, the Nguyen case…
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Inconsequential “Clues” Considered Together May Amount to Reasonable Suspicion of Criminal Activity
Why You Need a Criminal Defense Attorney to Defend Your Rights During the course of an ordinary traffic stop, an officer may detect clues of an illegal drug crime in California. These clues, while seemingly inconsequential, when considered in the aggregate, may provide the additional reasonable suspicion required to detain an individual for further investigation. Generally, no single factor will justify further detention. Each individual factor, considered separately, may well…
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Valencia DUI and Criminal Defense Attorneys
Valencia, California is a planned community that along with three other communities, merged to form Santa Clarita, California in 1987. The area is extensively used as filming locations for many TV series', past and present. Some of these shows include The Power Rangers, NCIS, Weeds and Melrose Place. Valencia is also known for its paseos, a network of walkways that connect the entire community without crossing streets at grade. The…
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Goleta Man Arrested in Craigslist Lure
An Experienced Sex Crime Defense Attorney can Quietly Move This Case Through the Criminal System A Goleta Man who lured women to his home under the guise of a job posting to clean his home was arrested on suspicion of exposing himself, according to an article on the . The 59 year old Santa Barbara man, who was free on bail, was awaiting arraignment on 3 charges of indecent exposure…
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Supreme Court Rules DNA Tests for Prisoners Not a Constitutional Right
Why You Need an Experienced Criminal Appeals Attorney Fighting for You A report published on discussed the recent Supreme Court decision regarding the rights of prisoners to have crime samples tested for DNA. The important decision cleared the way for individual states to legislate the issue themselves as the Court found that there was no need for a constitutional amendment that would dictate the criminal court procedures for all 50…
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Ineffective Assistance of Counsel is Cause to Withdraw a Plea When Counsel Failed to Have Defendant’s Statements Excluded
An ineffective assistance of counsel claim is one reason to withdraw a plea agreement. In order to prevail on an effective assistance of counsel claim, defendant must demonstrate that his counsel's representation was "deficient" and that deficiency caused a result that would not have happened but for the inadequate representation."Deficient" means that the counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness; meaning, the attorney did not handle the case…
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Double Jeopardy and Vehicular Homicide
The California Supreme court determined in People v. Traylor, that a defendant could be tried under a second complaint for negligent vehicular manslaughter when the first complaint, vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, had been dismissed. In California, even though the original charge had been dismissed, a second charge could be filed based on the exact same conduct. The first charge was "vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence" while the second charge…
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