A New Year Means New Criminal Defense Strategies in Southern California
It’s a new year and with it comes some dramatic changes to the world of criminal defense in California. We have a new district attorney in Los Angeles County. We have new laws in California, and we are about to have a new president in the oval office.
Proposition 36 passed as a voter initiative to reinstate criminal penalties that were reduced some years ago. Theft cases which were previously only filed as misdemeanors will now be felonies. Drug cases that could previously filed only as misdemeanors will now be filed as felonies.
Liberal District Attorney Gascon has been voted out of office. Nathan Hochman is now in the chief LA County prosecutor’s seat. The well educated and highly intelligent new district attorney will no doubt bring his background from the United States Attorney’s Office into play in his new role. I foresee better organization, more formality and a lot less benefits to the defense. We may even see a large re-entry into the district attorney’s office to re-fill all the vacant spots caused by the mass exodus we saw when Gascon began implanting his policies.
And don’t think for a moment that we can look to Washington D.C. for any help. Immigrants facing criminal charges will no longer have safe places to hide. President Trump has threatened to begin deporting criminal immigrants. The United States Supreme Court has swung far to the right. And if that isn’t enough, California’s liberal Governor, Gavin Newsom’s term is up in January 2027. That may sound like a long ways away, but the election for California governor is next year.
So what does this all mean to anyone who gets in trouble this new year?
Nothing good, that’s for sure. Cases that used to be only misdemeanors will now be felonies. This is even more true in counties like Kern, Ventura, Riverside and the traditionally, very conservative bastions of California. Sentencing enhancements that put people in prison for years on top of their underlying sentences will be back in Los Angeles County. Gangs, guns, and drug quantity enhancements are all coming back. Nothing against the new DA, but he is used to things like 10 year mandatory minimums for drug crimes under the federal sentencing scheme. Enhancements for drug quantity in state cases will be nothing new to him. Get ready because we are going to need to get our fight on.
It’s a new year and it’s a new time for criminal defense in Southern California. Don’t call the guy with the fancy website. Don’t call the guy who sends you a letter in the mail after you have been arrested. Call your friends. Call your family attorney. Get a referral to an experienced criminal defense lawyer in California. Talk to the lawyer you are thinking about hiring. Make sure you feel comfortable with that person. Ask questions. Get the answers you deserve.
If you or someone close to you has been arrested in California, call a lawyer who has been successfully defending people for almost thirty years. Great results, reasonable fees, no sales pitches.
Serving Los Angeles and Ventura Counties and other jurisdictions by request. Offices in the San Fernando Valley and Ventura County
Attorney Jeffrey Vallens (818) 783-5700 (805) 230-3651