LA Criminal Defense Attorney

California law lists the crime of assault as unlawfully attempting to inflict bodily harm or injury on another person. This crime requires the element of intent; in other words, you cannot be convicted of an accidental assault. A prosecutor will have to show, among other elements, that at the time of assault you had the present ability to carry out the physical act of assault. If you simply were not able to commit such an act, you obviously cannot be held liable for doing so.

There is a category of assault known as aggravated assault; this involves the inflicting of a serious injury to another person as a result of the assault. The penalties for aggravated assault are more serious. California holds that crimes of assault against protected classes of persons – such as the elderly, the disabled, and police officers – are particularly grievous and will receive much more severe treatment.

One of the ways we work to defend you at Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney is to make sure the standard of reasonable doubt is considered in your assault charge. If a prosecutor cannot prove you had a definite intent to harm someone, then you cannot be convicted of assault.

Though many people think of assault and battery as the same thing, in legal terms they are not. Battery is a more serious charge and it does not require an actual physical injury in order to be proven. Sometimes, if no injury occurs, a case of battery can be pled down to a charge of assault.

Battery can be charged as either a felony or a misdemeanor. Misdemeanor battery carries penalties of as much as 6 months in jail and a financial penalty of up to $2,000. The jail time and penalties for a felony are, as you would expect, even higher.

Additionally, if there is serious bodily injury involved in a battery case, the sentencing guidelines are tougher. The protected classes of people under the laws of battery are broader, as well, including law enforcement officers, traffic control officers, transportation workers, and emergency response and medical workers.

At Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, we will employ a number of defense tactics to help defend you against the charge of battery. These include mistaken identity, lack of intent, false accusation, lack of physical contact, and lack of compelling evidence to convict.

The charge of domestic violence is very similar to those of assault and battery in terms of the kinds of actions that are committed and proof that is required to convict. There is one unique element, however, and that is the relationship of the accused to the alleged victim at the time of the event.

This means that if any of the following relationships existed at the time a violent act was threatened, attempted, or committed – then the crime is considered one of domestic violence.

• Spouse
• Co-habitant
• Former spouse
• Former co-habitant
• Romantic partner
• Former romantic partner
• The other parent of your child

There are instances of domestic violence that can involve a child or an elder member of a household; these may be liable for additional charges of child abuse or elder abuse.

A fairly regular occurrence is the raising of domestic violence charges by one party against another for false reasons. Some of these include seeking leverage in a child custody battle, or for revenge after a romantic relationship has ended.

One of our goals at Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney will be to help you understand the charges of domestic violence raised against you and how we can help make a plan to defend against them. We do not want you to be harmed because someone else has falsely accused you of domestic violence just to gain an advantage over you.

Driving under the influence of either alcohol or drugs in California is a crime that is taken very seriously. If you have operated a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol level (BAC) of .08% or higher, you can be sentenced to loss of your license, you can be ordered to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in fines, you can be required to attend a DUI school, and you can be sentenced to time in jail as well as other penalties.

For those who drive commercial vehicles, the BAC legal limit is lower at .04%; and, for drivers under the age of 21, the BAC for conviction of DUI is only .01%. In all cases, even if your BAC registers under the legal limit, if it can be demonstrated that your driving was impaired and you have traces of any alcohol or drugs in your blood, you can still be convicted of DUI

At Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, we often can work to get a DUI case dismissed because we can demonstrate that law enforcement did not conduct proper procedure during your arrest. Similarly, there are times when the evidence obtained against you is faulty. There are tricks of the trade that police officers sometimes use, and we know when to look for these and advocate on your behalf.

We can also work to obtain a reduction in your sentence or in the charges themselves, such as obtaining a charge of reckless driving rather than DUI.

There are other crimes that involve driving a motor vehicle in addition to DUI. Some of these include hit and run, road rage, reckless driving, evading an officer, driving with a suspended license, driving on the wrong side of the road, driving without a license and more.

These crimes can be charged on the misdemeanor or felony level.

If the crimes are considered to be more serious, you can lose your driver’s license, be required to serve time in jail or prison, pay hefty fines, and attend driving education classes. If the crimes are less severe, you may still garner points assessed against your driving record which can count toward you being classified as an HTO (Habitual Traffic Offender). A person who is an HTO pays much higher rates for insurance and, if you are arrested for further motor vehicle offenses, will have to face consequences that are automatically heightened. Your punishment will be greater than a person who is not classified as an HTO.

At Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, we know the ins and outs of the DMV system and have a lot of experience defending motor vehicle cases at jury trials. We will build a solid defense case for you and get you the best possible result while protecting your driving record.

Drug crime charges are many and varied in the state of California. Every separate charge often has its own legal definition and burden of proof, requiring a specialized approach by your criminal defense attorney.

You could be accused of simple possession of a controlled substance; your charge could simply be being under the influence of an illegal drug. Still, you might be charged with one of the weightier crimes such as the manufacture of illegal narcotics, possession for sale, or drug trafficking.

At Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney, we work to master the minutiae of California drug laws so that we can provide a solid defense against the wide array of drug-related charges.

Using marijuana is still a crime for those under the age of 21 in California, or for those who possess more than one ounce (which is a measure of 8 grams). Also, if you possess prescription drugs for in order to sell or use them in a wrongful manner - -well, that’s a crime in California, as well.

You really don’t want to have any kind of drug abuse charge on your criminal record, as this can affect future endeavors such as applying for jobs or getting into college. An experienced criminal defense attorney who understands drug charges is a great advantage for you.

Our goal will always be to work with you to obtain an acquittal or pretrial dismissal of your case, or at the very least to obtain a favorable plea that will help to reduce your sentence if you are charged and convicted. We take pride in being well-versed in all of the classes and subclasses of drug charges that can be brought in California.

In California, the illegal taking of another person’s property without her or his knowledge or consent is a crime of theft. The professionals at Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney have wide experience in defending those accused of theft.

Theft charges can be classified as petty theft (if the value of items taken is less than $950) or grand theft (more than $950 in value). There are also other crimes involving theft that are classified as robbery, burglary, appropriating or receiving stolen property, car-jacking, or grand theft auto (or grand theft with a firearm).

You may be able to raise such defenses as you believed you had a right of ownership to the property that was taken, or you did not actually take the property that it is alleged you did. The prosecution may not be able to prove it was your intent to deprive the other person of their property. Whatever the mitigating factors might be, we will help you build a defense that fits your situation, based on our research of the facts and any other details we help you uncover.

It is entirely possible to have your case dismissed, or certainly to have the charges reduced or your sentence made lighter. These are outcomes that we achieve for many of our clients.

If you are accused of a crime involving fraud, the state has a particularly high bar of proof which must be demonstrated. This crime requires absolute proof that you unlawfully took the property of another person (and that the property did not belong to you) and that you committed an action that gained an undeserved benefit for yourself or caused the other person to suffer an undeserved loss. Fraud can be perpetrated against people, companies, or government agencies.

A crime of fraud can be charged if there is a demonstrated violation of trust, such as is the case in embezzlement. The majority of fraud cases involve financial gain and the hiding of a person’s true identity.

Specific categories of crimes involving fraud would include insurance fraud, check fraud, forgery, identity theft, credit card fraud, mortgage fraud, mail fraud, defrauding senior citizens, and even more. Often thought to be primarily a white-collar crime, there are actually a large number of cases prosecuted among people of all social and economic levels.

Because the fraud statutes in California are so complex, and the crimes are viewed as serious by the courts and judges of the state, an experienced criminal defense attorney who understands the law and the types of defenses that can be mounted is essential. This is one of our main specialties at Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney.

California courts consider crimes that involve an element of violence to be worthy of extra scrutiny and serious consequences.

The state has a provision for violent crimes known as the Three Strikes Law. A conviction for a violent crime is considered to be a strike; after the first strike, a second conviction for violent crime would result in a penalty that is double the penalty. If convicted for a third strike within a 7-year period, you can receive a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. It goes without saying that you do not want the number of strikes on your record to increase. We often work to keep these types of crimes off the records of our clients.

The types of violent crimes that can be prosecuted in California include murder, extortion, manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon, assault and battery, domestic violence, stalking, robbery, car-jacking, crimes committed with firearms, and many others.

Violent crimes can be punished by prison terms of several years, life in prison, and in some cases by administering the death penalty. Violent crimes are the most serious of those adjudicated in the California system of courts; you want an experienced firm like Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney at your side.

Every single day, there are juveniles that are arrested and charged with crimes in California. Most of these cases are handled through the Juvenile Justice System and receive less harsh treatment than crimes committed by adults. There is also a tendency to offer correctional assistance so as to avoid repeat offenses by juveniles.

Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorney handles juvenile cases with the same level of care and attention that we provide to our adult clients. We often are able to get cases dismissed by presenting evidence in favor of our juvenile clients, or by discrediting the evidence presented against them by the prosecution.

Juvenile crimes in California include underage drinking, vandalism, sexting crimes (which can be charged as child pornography), crimes involving theft, and underage use of marijuana. Sometimes charges are as serious as statutory rape, even if consent for a sexual act was given by a person under the age of 18.

We understand the Juvenile Court System and will skillfully guide our clients (or their parents) through every detail of the case. We want to protect the futures of our juvenile clients, so we work hard for them!