We are pleased to report that we obtained an excellent outcome yesterday for a client who was prosecuted in Marin County (San Rafael) by the California Attorney General’s Office for numerous felony counts of Computer Hacking (Penal Code section 502) and one count of Stalking (Penal Code section 646.9).
A Bay Area-wide crackdown on Pimping and Pandering, teen prostitution and human trafficking, led by the FBI but involving investigative efforts from the Hayward Police Department, Oakland Police Department and many other agencies was reported in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Vandals in Danville apparently knocked over a 75 foot communications tower which was located in the hills west of Danville in Contra Costa County. The tower was located on Rocky Ridge near Las Trampas Regional Wilderness area. This incident was reported by the East Bay Regional Park Police, indicating that the wires that anchored the tower in place had been cut. This tower is used by several government and public safety agencies. Vandalism cases such as these can be...
Vehicular manslaughter cases, while always packed with emotion, are often defensible cases as it can be very difficult to prove that the defendant was grossly negligent or violated some law which resulted in the death of the victim.
A California state Court of Appeals has overturned the sentence of a San Mateo man who was 16 years old when he took part in a gas station robbery and was convicted of first-degree murder (Penal Code section 187) and sentenced to life without parole.
It was just announced that the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has joined the Electronic Frontier Foundation and 18 other organizations in a lawsuit against the National Security Agency (NSA) for violating the First Amendment rights of millions of Americans.
In 1989 a white female jogger was brutally attacked in New York City’s Central Park. National media coverage and public outrage focused on five black and Latino teenagers who were caught in the unforgiving gears of the criminal justice system. The teenagers all admitted to the rape and beating and served prison sentences of six to thirteen years. In 2002, however, a shocking turn of events brought this case back to life when another man confessed to crime, and was later verified as the sole rapist through DNA testing.
There have been several promising signs that Fourth Amendment protections are catching up to e-mail communications. Under current federal law, e-mail messages that are 180 days old or less and unopened are subject to a warrant for law enforcement to access them.
Fueled by budget cuts and lack of incentives to be proactive, the Oakland Police Department is making an average of 43 stops per day. That number is far below the 188 stops per day three years ago.
Ninth Circuit ruling requiring California to release prisoners.
New rules in Pennsylvania requiring mutual discovery at sentencing could change defendant discovery entitlements in other states.
KRON 4 News in San Francisco recently interviewed Seth Chazin regarding the case of Richard Steiner. Steiner was recently accused of child pornography and suspended from work. His first hearing will be Monday, June 10th, 2013.
Tiered Registry (Bill AB702) is pending passage and is being reviewed in the Appropriations Committee of the California Assembly. Contact Mike Gatto to request the bill be released.
The California State Assembly passed bill AB1401, allowing non-citizens to serve in juries. Learn how this is good development from a defense perspective.
Proposition 35 Injunction and appeal
Obtaining “Bad Juror” lists that are produced by prosecutor offices. A little known practice of many prosecutor offices is the use of “bad juror” lists to exclude particular citizens from jury service. The individuals on this list have been identified by the prosecutors as bad jurors for a var...
Oakland Police Department reports 44% drop in arrests According to a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Police officers made 44 percent less arrests last year than in the past three years. The drop is seen as a direct result of job cuts at the Oakland Police Department, w...
Time limits on Prop 36 resentencing If you or someone you know was previously sentenced under the Three Strikes law, he or she may be eligible for resentencing under Proposition 36, which was recently approved by California voters on November 6, 2012.This proposition allows individuals whose T...
Many innocent people are accused of committing crimes and end up in jail or prison. Although the American criminal justice system works in some cases, juries, judges, and law enforcement officials don't always get things right. The best way to avoid such an unjust result and ensure a proper outco...
Proposition 36, A.K.A. the “Three Strikes Reform Act of 2012 Initiative” passed on November 6, 2012. This new law limits the ability of California courts to impose a life sentence for individuals convicted of certain nonviolent felonies despite having two or more prior serious or violent felonies...
“The death penalty is a lie, a misguided mistake born of anger and frustration. Capital punishment has become a perverse monument to inequality, to how some lives matter and others do not. It is a violent example of how we protect and value the rich and abandon and devalue the poor. The death penalty is a grim, disturbing shadow formed by the legacy of racial apartheid and bias against the poor that condemns the disfavored among us, but corrupts us all. It’s the perverse symbol elected officials use to strengthen their ‘tough on crime’ reputations and distract us from confronting the causes of violence. It is finally the enemy of grace, redemption and all of us who recognize that each person is more than their worse act.”
