Bahman Khodayari was convicted of misdemeanor grand theft and misdemeanor insurance fraud. As a result of his conviction, Mr. Khodayari was placed on 36 months of probation, ordered to serve a year in county jail, and ordered to pay $25,057 in restitution. The court appointed an attorney, Charles Mashburn, to represent Mr. Khodayari in assisting him with complying with his terms of probation. In later proceedings, Mr. Khodayari was found to have been in violation of his probation. Mr. Khodayari alleged that it was Mr. Mashburn’s deficient representation that caused him to be found in violation.

The Court of Appeal rejected Mr. Khodayari’s arguments that Mr. Mashburn’s representation had resulted in the violations. The Court of Appeal argued that a former criminal defendant who sues his attorney for legal malpractice, must show actual innocence of the underlying criminal charges and must obtain postconviction relief in the form of a final disposition of the underlying charges in the criminal case. Although this was a probation violation proceeding, the requirement of actual innocence still applied to Mr. Khodayari’s claims of malpractice. Therefore, Mr. Khodayari had to show actual innocence of his probation violations and postviolation exoneration.

This is important because most individuals who are charged with a crime are usually overwhelmed with choosing the right attorney. As you can see, it is very important to choose the best attorney to represent you and avoid any possible problems. Often times, bad attorneys can produce unwanted results and cause the client to suffer additional punishments and/or fines. As such, it is to your benefit to hire a firm with significant criminal defense experience.

If you are charged with a crime, it is imperative that you hire an experienced criminal defense law firm to represent you in court. For over 30 years, our attorneys have been helping clients in all sorts of criminal matters. Please call us at (888) 280-6839 or visit our website at www.wklaw.com. We will be there when you call.

To begin the appeal process, a written notice of appeal is filed with the clerk of the court in which the proceeding took place. In criminal and juvenile cases, transcripts of the underlying proceedings are automatically prepared. All parties are notified once the record on appeal has been filed with the Court of Appeal. From [...]

In the case of People v. Gray, the Court of Appeal of California held that the disclosing of notes between the defendant and attorney to the prosecutor did not violate the attorney-client privilege because the defendant brought the documents with him to the witness stand. Basically, the defendant in this case brought 18 pages of [...]

The California Courts of Appeal 2nd District recently ruled on a case in which a man was charged a felony and two misdemeanors.  The man’s attorney challenged the sufficiency of the evidence of one of the misdemeanors, stating that is was not proved at preliminary hearing.  The trial court ruled that is was not necessary [...]

The frustration and heart break of having a jury return a guilty verdict after an exhausting criminal trial is tremendous. However a guilty verdict, and a judge imposing a sentence, does not necessarily have to be the end of the line in fighting a criminal case. In California, those convicted of a criminal case always [...]

Trial is over and you’ve been convicted. What next? Many criminal proceedings are tainted by errors—such as prosecutorial misconduct and bad evidentiary rulings. Appealing your conviction is necessary to challenge many of these trial errors. But be warned, appealing your conviction is very different than a criminal trial. Our team of experienced appellate attorneys will [...]