This September, the notoriously liberal state of California just made it harder for cops to take cash from innocent people. Governor Jerry Brown just signed into law SB 443, which limits the amount of civil forfeiture that is allowed to take place in the state by police and law enforcement…
There are currently more than 800,000 people registered in the nationwide list of registered sex criminals, and that list is growing dramatically. Even some who had denounced convicted rapist Brock Turner’s actions had questioned whether he should have to spend the rest of his life as a registered sex offender.…
It has already been reported several times that Prop 47 may be affecting crime rates in the state, but the state’s most damning evidence was just recently released. According to the state’s attorney general’s most recent report, the number of violent crimes jumped 10% across California last year, reversing several…
Recently, prosecutors in Oakland, California announced they opened up a criminal investigation into the fatal balcony collapse that occurred on June 17 near the UC Berkeley campus. Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley launched an investigation into the incident that killed 6 college students at an apartment party when police…
The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office has announced it will seek the death penalty against a mother (Pearl Fernandez) and her boyfriend (Isauro Aguirre), who have been accused of the torturing and death of the woman’s 8-year-old son. This case stems from Gabriel Fernandez’s death in May 2013, where…
As a practitioner in the criminal law field, it is part of my job to keep updated on new case law that will affect my clients. This blog will seek to explain to you the latest development in criminal case law—coming from our highest court—the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court…
As Baltimore becomes the latest casualty of events transpiring from police brutality, another Justice Department investigation is underway for the multitude of constitutional rights Freddie Gray may have suffered at the hands of police. Most people don’t think of criminal law as being fundamentally intertwined with our basic constitutional rights,…
The State of Washington was the first state in the nation to pass the ‘no-nonsense’ 3 strikes policy to address repeat, criminal offenders in 1993. California enacted its 3 strikes law shortly after Washington in 1994. These “habitual offender laws” are statutes adopted by individual state legislatures to impose harsher…
On Tuesday, April 21, the U.S. Marshals Service announced they would be reviewing a video that shows a deputy U.S. Marshall in South Gate, California charging at a woman who was filming them at a crime scene, grabbing her phone, smashing it onto the curb, and then subsequently kicking her…
In California, like every state, it is illegal to possess, distribute, and transport illegal substances that are listed on the Controlled Substances Schedule. These substances include heroin, marijuana, peyote, hash, cocaine, methamphetamine, “magic mushrooms,” and prescription drugs such as Oxycontin (aka “oxy”), Vicodin (Hydrocodone), and stimulants. All drug possession crimes…