Phil Spector California Court of Appeals
Phil Spector California Court of Appeals
Lawyers of legendary producer Phil Spector have asked for a third trial for their convicted client. The 71-year-old Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was convicted by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury in April 2009 of second degree murder for the 2003 shooting of actress Lana Clarkson. Spector received a prison sentence of 19 years to life. The appeal of the conviction was heard on Tuesday, April 12 by…
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Street encounters with police occur with varying degrees of coercion. An encounter with police is best understood by breaking it down into three categories:
(1) Where a citizen feels "free to leave" and terminate the encounter at will. Here, there has been no "detention" under the law. This falls outside the scope of Fourth Amendment protections prohibiting unreasonable searches and seizures of a person, their home, papers, and effects; (2) Brief "seizures", which triggers Fourth Amendment protections and also allows police more authority if acting with reasonable, specific, and articulable suspicion; (3) Arrests. An…
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What if I got arrested for vehicular manslaughter, what does the prosecution need to prove and what is the punishment?
To prove that the defendant is guilty of this crime, the People must prove that: 1. The defendant drove a motor vehicle under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or a drug; 2. While driving that vehicle under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or a drug, the defendant also committed a misdemeanor, infraction, or otherwise lawful act that might cause death; 3. The defendant committed the misdemeanor, infraction, or…
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Match.com Will Now Screen its Users for Registered Sex Offenders – Penal Code Section 290
The dating website announced that it will begin screening its existing and new user lists for registered sex offenders. This announcement was made following a lawsuit in which a user alleged that she had been raped by someone she had met through the site. Although the president of said that for years the site had considered include that safeguard, it decided against it due to the unreliability of the national…
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Under California Law, A Person Convicted Of Reckless Driving With An Injury Will Face Mandatory Jail Sentence
In California, certain code sections require mandatory minimum punishments. One such code section, is the vehicle code section dealing with reckless driving, resulting in an injury . Reckless driving in California is codified in the Vehicle Code under Section 23104. An individual is guilty of this offense "whenever reckless driving of a vehicle proximately causes bodily injury to a person other than the driver." A conviction will result in a…
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What if I’m charged with robbery, what should I do? Penal Code Section 211
Robbery is defined as taking the personal property of another using any amount of force, no matter how slight, or by fear. Robbery is classified as either first degree or second degree. First degree robbery is much serious crime. Some types of robbery that are classified as first degree robbery are: when a person commits a robbery in a house, when a person commits a robbery on a person using…
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Barry Bonds Convicted of Obstruction; Judge Declares Mistrial on 3 Remaining Counts
Barry Bonds has been convicted in Federal Court of one count of obstruction of justice. The jury found Major League Baseball's all-time leader in homeruns guilty of impeding a grand jury investigation concerning the distribution of illegal steroids. Bonds had maintained his innocence throughout the investigation leading up to his trial, but did not testify at the trial. In fact, his defense did not call a single witness to testify…
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Roadside Detention, Interrogation and Miranda
Once a vehicle stop has been made and a DUI investigation has commenced, the issue arises as to when a DUI suspect is "in custody" for purposes of the landmark case Miranda v. Arizona. The Miranda Court repeatedly made clear that "by custodial interrogation, we mean questioning initiated by law enforcement officers after a person has been taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom of action in any…
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Los Angeles DUI Lawyer explains prosecution
In a Los Angeles DUI case, the prosecution must show that your blood alcohol concentration was at or above the legal limit at the time of driving, not necessarily at the time of testing. This can be difficult for the prosecution to prove, especially if the breath test is administered a substantial amount of time after the arrest. Issues arise when your blood alcohol content (known as "BAC") at the…
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Los Angeles DUI prosecution
In a Los Angeles DUI case, the prosecution must show that your blood alcohol concentration was at or above the legal limit at the time of driving, not necessarily at the time of testing. This can be difficult for the prosecution to prove, especially if the breath test is administered a substantial amount of time after the arrest. Issues arise when your blood alcohol content (known as "BAC") at the…
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