How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Lawyer for my DUI in Los Angeles? Public defenders are paid by the county where they work.  Private defense lawyers set their own fees and are paid by their individual clients.  Most criminal defense lawyers in California charge a flat fee for their services.  This normally means, you pay one fee and the case settled.  An actual jury trial might cost more money, but most cases don’t go to trial. How come the costs from one lawyer to the next differ so much? How much a lawyer charges defends on many factors …

Practicing Law in the Time of Covid;  Criminal Defense in Southern California Practicing law during Covid has been both good and bad for me.  On the plus side, I haven’t been driving as much with advent of electronic appearances.  This saves time, money and dry cleaning.  But, kidding aside there have been some very good deals on the table under the guise of “Covid” offers and settlements.  Additionally, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has found itself dramatically understaffed for some time now. What does this mean for my clients? Clients can often take advantage of a lack of …

Expungements, Reductions and other Post-Conviction Relief Now is a great time to clean up your criminal record.  The court system is quieter than it’s been in a long time.  The laws in this area are more favorable than they have been in a long time.  Please consider taking this time to expunge your old criminal cases.  Do you have a reduceable felony?  It is often a simple process to get it reduced to a misdemeanor and expunged. The court charges a small fee for filing the appropriate documents.  Doing the paperwork is easy for an experience lawyer and the costs …

Cooperation with Law Enforcement in California Criminal Defense Cooperation with law enforcement.  Working off your case.  These are topics that are rarely discussed in public forums.  These are uncomfortable topics.  But jail and prison are uncomfortable places to spend time and sometimes, we have to look out for number one, while trying to avoid stepping in number two. How does it work and is it right for you? In federal court, cooperation with law enforcement is the norm.  But that norm is very different in practice then it is in state court.  In federal cases it is quite common for …

Hit and Run Defense in California:  Felony, Misdemeanor and more Hit and run is a very common criminal offense in California.  The most common type of hit and run is a misdemeanor involving only property damage.  This type of case involves three things: We have to have been in a collision, We must know (or reasonably should have known) that we were in a collision, We fail to identify ourselves or notify law enforcement. Items 1 and 2 tend to overlap in that if there is any kind of significant accident, we usually know about it.  But what about very …

Judicial Diversion in Criminal Cases in California:  When, Where and How can you get it? There has been a lot of talk about Judicial Diversion lately.  There have been a lot of requests for Judicial Diversion lately.  A lot of my clients have been getting Judicial Diversion lately…And it’s awesome! Today alone I got diversion for two different clients.  One case was a drug case which also involved resisting arrest.  The other case was a Penal Code Section 148 where the police claimed my client was lying to them, delaying their investigation and hiding his son from the police when …

What Criminal Cases can be Reduced or Expunged? More new laws are out.  More ways to expunge convictions are on the books.  If you went to “Firecamp”, you can expunge your conviction.  You don’t even need to be off of probation or parole. If you successfully completed probation in almost any case, misdemeanor or felony, you can expunge your conviction. If you went to county jail on a “prison” sentence, you can expunge your conviction. Convicted of DUI?  You can expunge it.  This goes for felony DUI’s too! If you have ten different convictions, in ten different counties, for ten …

Why I Defend People Charged with Sex Crimes in California Twenty five years ago when I started my law practice, it was very difficult to be picky about the cases I took and the clients I represented.  If someone called me and they had money, I would usually get on board.  If it was a sex offense, they would need more money, but I would take the case because I had loans to pay. Twenty five years later, I am fortunate to be sitting in a different position.  I get to pick the cases I take and the clients I …

There has been a bit of news lately about a DUI case in Western Los Angeles County.  A small and quiet community called Westlake Village had a terrible collision recently.  The driver was alleged to have been a woman named Rebecca Grossman of the Grossman Burn Center family.  It is alleged that Mrs. Grossman was speeding and possible even racing down a two lane street just South of the lake.  Speeds were estimated to have been near one hundred miles per hour in a 45 zone.  Sadly, she is said to have hit two small children who were crossing the …

Felony DUI, Vehicular Manslaughter While Intoxicated and Watson Murder Many of us understand that a DUI can be a felony.  It can be a felony when the driver causes injury to others or when the driver has prior convictions for DUI within the last ten years.  This article is aimed at DUI’s causing injury. When we are under the influence of alcohol or drugs or both, and we drive, we can be charged with DUI.  Felony DUI requires that we injure someone other than ourselves.  Felony DUI and related charges take several forms.  There is a “simple” felony DUI where …