Criminal Defense
Federal Prosecutors taking Barry Bonds Perjury Case to Trial – 18 U.S.C. Section 1623
Federal prosecutors are going forward with their perjury case against former MLB star Barry Bonds. This may be a surprise move by the prosecutors after the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a San Francisco federal judge's ruling excluding crucial evidence to the prosecution's case on hearsay grounds. The excluded evidence included certain blood and urine test results that the government could not link to Bonds. The government's best…
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Mel Gibson Claims he has Hard Evidence of Ex-Girlfriend Extortion – California Penal Code Section 518
According to TMZ, officials have begun investigation into the extortion claims by Mel Gibson against his ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. Gibson claims that he has hard evidence of Grigorieva trying to extort him for money with the threat of releasing the audio recordings of a phone conversation between the two. The audio recordings may have indicated that Gibson committed domestic violence by punching Grigorieva and knocking out two of her teeth.…
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DNA Law Being Challenged in the Appellate Court
The usage of DNA evidence has been in the media lately because of the arrest of the alleged Grim Sleeper. In that case, the police found the alleged serial killer's DNA from a discarded pizza slice and was able to track him down using a familial DNA search. California voters approved the state DNA program by passing Proposition 69 in 2004. The law required that people arrested for a felony…
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Mother Facing Felony Charges in Murrieta Pit-Bull Attack on 6-month-old child
A woman whose 6-month-old son was attacked by two pit bulls in Murrieta after she left him alone with the animals has been charged with felony child endangerment. . The attack occurred in April inside a condominium on Arboretum Way. The baby boy was fastened in a car seat and had been bitten by a pit pull while the boy's mother and a male friend were in another room. Police…
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New Approach To Eliminating Graffiti: City Attorney Files Civil Injunction Against MTA – California Penal Code Sections 594 & 166
As recently reported in the L.A. Times, the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office is pursuing a new tactic to eliminate tagging and vandalism of public property. The "Metro Transit Assassins" (MTA) are the most notorious tagging crew in L.A. and are responsible for hundreds of acts of vandalism. Last year, seven of their members were charged with a half-mile long "MTA" scrawl on concrete banks of the Los Angeles River.…
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Police Able To Track Down Burglar After He Left His Birth Certificate At The Crime Scene
Allen Dawes was arrested by law enforcement officers for an alleged burglary of the First St. John's Church in York, Pennsylvania. Police say Dawes broke into the church and stole the collection box, which had been set out for church members to make donations to those less fortunate. Law enforcement was able to track down Dawes as the burglar because Dawes left his birth certificate at the church. Police say…
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What Is the Difference Between Writs of Habeas Corpus and Audita Querela?
Recently, the Ninth Circuit held that a federal prisoner may not challenge his or her sentence pursuant to a petition for a writ of audita querela if the requested relief can be obtained through a writ of habeas corpus. Defendants in California have a right to challenge their conviction in either state or federal court by way of filing an appeal and later a writ of habeas corpus. The writ…
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WHAT HAPPENS WHEN DEFENDANT’S RIGHT TO CONFRONTATION CONFLICTS WITH WITNESS’S ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGE?
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution assures the defendant the right to confront and cross-examine adverse witnesses. Under California Evidence Code section 594, "a client. . .has a privilege to disclose or refuse to disclose, and to prevent another from disclosing, a confidential communication between client and lawyer if the privilege is claimed by (a) the holder of the privilege, [or] (b) a person who is authorized to…
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Gang Expert’s Testimony, in Response to Improper Hypothetical, Should Have Been Excluded
The California Court of Appeal recently held that Killibrew error [People v. Killibrew (2002) 103 CalApp.4th 644] resulted from a gang expert's response to an improper hypothetical question posed by the prosecutor. The rule set forth in Killibrew is that an expert witness may not offer an opinion on what a particular defendant is thinking. The Court in this case noted that the prosecution cannot circumvent that rule "by asking…
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Good Conduct Credit for Presentence Custody Doubled – California Penal Code § 4019
In People v. Keating, No. B210240, the court held that the 2009 amendment to California Penal Code § applies retroactively to sentences handed down even before the amendment was passed. Keatings appealed his conviction claiming that there was not enough evidence to have found him guilty of several crimes. Between the initial sentencing and the appeal, California Penal Code Section 4019 was amended, which changed the procedure of good conduct…
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