When I graduated from law school about 20 years ago one of my friends thought they would be funny and bought me a new coffee mug that said: “A good lawyer knows the law, a great lawyer knows the judge”. I am a good enough lawyer to know that there may be some truth to this old saying. However what I have found after two decades of practice is that knowing people is good, but knowing how to talk to people is what is so great. Attitude is everything in my business. Every lawyer has their side for which they …

Ten men were arrested yesterday after what police describe as a movie-like robbery in the Korea Town area of Los Angeles. The men stormed into a jewelry store armed with guns and sledge hammers. They men quickly and methodically shattered the glass display cases and stole what was described as hundreds of expensive watches. Unfortunately for the robbers, at least one of the watches was equipped with a GPS tracking device. I’m not sure if the GPS tracking is to prevent theft or catch cheating spouses, but it worked out for the store owner in this case. Police followed the tracking device …

I hear a lot of similar stories when it comes to clients being arrested for evading law enforcement. Why didn’t you stop? I was scared because my license was suspended or I was scared because I had been drinking are the most common answers that I hear. One of my favorite stories was several years ago from a client who was riding his motorcycle southbound on the 101 Freeway from Santa Barbara to Long Beach. CHP cars and a helicopter started following him shortly after he entered Ventura County. They clocked him at over 140 miles per hour and it …

Friday night in Northern California 3 young men appear to have been extremely bored as one the men put on a “bullet proof vest” and another man shot him in the chest. Sadly the vest did not stop the bullet and the young man died. Authorities suggested that the man may have lived if emergency personnel were called earlier. The question now is whether one or both of the young men will be charged with crimes and if so, what crime or crimes? This does not sound like a murder case to me but let’s take a closer look. First, murder is …

If I Google the word “bail” or “jail” or “arrested”, I get thousands of returns for bail bondsmen throughout the state of California and across the country. Very quickly I can figure out that if I need to post bail, the most common way to do it is to call a bail bondsman. I pay them a fee of about 10% (sometimes less) for them to post the bond and I secure my freedom. I liken this to buying an insurance policy. We buy insurance in case there is some sort of big trouble in the future and if such …

Don’t Take Deferred Entry of Judgment (Drug Diversion) at Arraignment Here is the hypothetical: You get arrested for possession of narcotics or being under the influence of narcotics. You are scared and you hire a lawyer. The lawyer makes promises to you (that he usually can’t keep) like, “Don’t worry, I’ll get your case dismissed” or “I will take care of everything.” You walk into arraignment court with the lawyer and suddenly he tells you to plead guilty and take deferred entry of judgment. The lawyer tells you that the offer won’t get any better and the cased will be dismissed in …

The majority of lawyers in the country charge for their services on an hourly basis. The lawyer speaks to the client, discusses the case and takes a “retainer”, or advance funds, and bills against the retainer for his work. When the retainer gets used up, the lawyer asks the client for more money. Here in California, things are a bit different for criminal defense and DUI defense attorneys. Here, almost all criminal lawyers charge flat fees for their services. I’m not sure why this is, but that’s the way it’s been for the 20 years I’ve been practicing and I …

It may seem like common sense, but we really shouldn’t run people over with our cars. Unfortunately there seems to be a lot of this going around lately and not just by Suge Knight. Using a car as a weapon is often a crime. This type of conduct would normally be charged as Assault With a Deadly Weapon under California’s Penal Code Section 245. It could even be consideredattempted murder or even worse if someone dies. There is only a legal defense if you are using reasonable and necessary force to defend yourself or another from an immediate threat. Furthermore, if you hit …

A man was arrested recently for the felony charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of Penal Code Section 29805. The gentlemen was convicted of a felony drug offense over ten years ago. Police got a tip from another felon that he sold a gun to his buddy. The buddy was another convicted felon. Upon investigating the tip, police found the gun under the felon’s bed and arrested him. The felon was referred to a lawyer and hired the lawyer to defend him. The lawyer who was hired took the client’s money and waited for the case …

Just so that we are all on the same page here, this is not something that someone could hide under a big jacket or in a purse. These “bins” are four feet by four feet square and hold one thousand pounds of grapes each. And, with an estimated value of $50,000, or over $12,000 per ton, these were some very high end grapes which would make some very expensive wine. I’m afraid that Proposition 47 won’t help Jeffry Hill. I’m sure his lawyer already told him that Prop 47 only applies to thefts with the total loss value under $950. Please remember …