Under California Penal Code Section 215, carjacking law is defined as the “felonious taking of a motor vehicle in the possession of another, from his or her person or immediate presence, or from the person or immediate presence of a passenger of the motor vehicle, against his or her will and with the intent to either permanently or temporarily deprive the person in possession of the motor vehicle of his or her possession, accomplished by means of force or fear.”

Because of the serious nature of the charge and the complexities of the laws surrounding the offense of carjacking, it is critically important that someone charged with carjacking immediately consult an experienced criminal defense attorney. At Wallin & Klarich, our experienced criminal defense attorneys have been handling carjacking and “strike” cases for more than 30 years, and we will aggressively fight the charges on your behalf. Our attorneys will look at the unique facts of your case and explore all possible defenses. For more information on this crime, visit us on our website at www.wklaw.com and read our Carjacking section. Call us today at (888) 280-6839 for a free case evaluation. We will be there when you call.

Sharon Pearl was charged with embezzlement in California and six separate counts of filing false income tax returns. Pearl used the $675,000 she stole from the agency to fund a lavish lifestyle for herself, spending the money on expensive clothes, spa treatments, dinners, and nights at expensive hotels.

As the State Bar’s Director of Real Property, Pearl was in charge of collecting rent money from tenants at the agency’s San Francisco headquarters. She also had a separate position overseeing the accounts of the Piedmont Light Opera Theater. According to prosecutors, Pearl asked tenants of the State Bar to make their rent checks out to “PLOT – The State Bar of California” – PLOT standing for the Piedmont Light Opera Theater. Pearl deposited the rent checks meant for the State Bar into the theater’s bank account and then transferred the money into her own personal account. After six years, State Bar officials discovered the accounting discrepancies and fired her in October 2008.

After the trial, Pearl’s attorney, Mark Cohen, stated she “deeply regretted her actions” and had already paid $393,000 in restitution. Cohen also accused the State Bar of using Pearl as a scapegoat to help cover for the agency’s lack of internal financial controls. Assistant Attorney General Ronald Smetana acknowledged the agency had no mechanism in place to track the payments it should have been receiving from tenants.

If you are accused of embezzlement, it is vital that you call the Southern California defense attorneys at Wallin & Klarich. Our attorneys have over 30 years of experience successfully defending clients of embezzlement and theft-related charges. We will go over your case with you in great detail and provide you with the best possible defense. Call Wallin & Klarich today at 1-888-749-0034 or www.wklaw.com for a consultation of your case. We can help you.

Selling marijuana is a felony. To convict the defendant, it must be shown that the defendant sold a controlled substance, knew of its presence, knew of the substance’s nature as a controlled substance, and the controlled substance was marijuana. This is what the prosecution must prove.

An attorney can help provide you with possible defenses to a charge of marijuana sales. An attorney can submit a motion to suppress evidence if the marijuana was illegally seized. Your case may be dismissed if the judge grants this motion.

You can be sentenced to state prison for up to four years if convicted of marijuana sales. The penalties are even harsher if you sold marijuana to a minor. Selling marijuana to a minor can be punishable by imprisonment for up to seven years in state prison.

For more information, please go to www.wklaw.com and read our Marijuana Sales section. You will find invaluable information on the charges that you or a loved one may be facing, as well as the possible defenses.

At Wallin & Klarich, our attorneys have been handling drug cases for over 30 years. Our Southern California marijuana sales defense attorneys will fully defend your rights and will always keep you informed with everything going on in your case. Call Wallin & Klarich today at (888) 749-0034. We will be there when you call.

Fraud charges involving credit cards can be serious if you are convicted. California laws covering credit card fraud carry substantial penalties. These penalties can include jail time, fines, probation, prison, parole, community service, and restitution.

If you or a loved one is facing felony fraud charges, our San Diego fraud defense attorneys at Wallin and Klarich have the experience needed to ensure that your rights are protected. Our attorneys have over 30 years of experience in dealing with fraud charges. We will provide you with the best possible defense. Call us at 888-749-0034 or contact us on our website at www.wklaw.com. We will be there when you call.

A recent California Supreme Court decision, People v. Concha, held that the jury must be instructed about the provocative murder doctrine when deciding whether or not to convict the defendant of first degree murder.

The provocative murder doctrine states that an accomplice in an attempted murder can be convicted of first degree murder if the intended murder victim kills another accomplice in the course of the attempted murder. In this case, the defendant had conspired with two other people to kill Jimmy Harris. During the course of the attempted murder, Harris killed one of Concha’s coconspirators in self defense. Concha was subsequently put on trial and convicted of first degree murder for his coconspirator’s death.

The California Supreme Court ruled that the jury did not receive the right instructions on the provocative murder doctrine and remanded the case back to the trial court. The jury was instructed to find Concha guilty of first-degree murder if the attempted murder was committed willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation. However, the trial court failed to instruct the jury that for first-degree murder Concha must have personally acted willfully, deliberately, and with premeditation.

Concha might still be convicted of second degree murder or attempted murder, but both of these crimes are lesser offenses than first degree murder. Subdivision (a) of section 664 of the California Penal Code provides that, as a general matter, a person guilty of attempted murder must be punished by imprisonment for five, seven or nine years. It goes on to provide, that “if the [murder] attempted is willful, deliberate, and premeditated . . . , the person guilty of the attempt shall be punished by imprisonment . . . for life . . . . The additional terms provided . . . for attempted willful, deliberate, and premeditated murder shall not be imposed unless the fact that the attempted murder was willful, deliberate, and premeditated is charged in the accusatory pleading and admitted or found to be true by the trier of fact.” All of these elements must be proved at trial.

In all criminal cases, it is important to have an experienced criminal defense attorney on your side. The serious felony attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have over 30 years of experience handling violent crimes and felonies. Our attorneys have the skills and expertise to provide our clients with the best possible defense. Whether at the trial stage or the appeals stage, the attorneys at Wallin & Klarich quickly respond to our clients’ legal needs. If you or a loved one has been charged with a serious crime, contact the attorneys at Wallin & Klarich immediately. Our Southern California violent crime attorneys can be reached by phone at 1-888-749-0034 or through our website at www.wklaw.com.

The tenth step in a felony case is the trial itself. If the case has not been resolved, you have a right to have a trial by a jury of your peers where the prosecutor will have to convince all twelve jurors that you are guilty of all of the charges beyond all reasonable doubt. If even one of the eleven jurors is not persuaded, then you cannot be found guilty. You have a right to testify at your trial, and you will decide whether or not you should testify by consulting with your lawyer.

Going through a jury trial is an extremely taxing, tiring, and emotional time, and you need to make sure you have a lawyer represent you at trial who has the stamina and determination to represent you to the fullest and to the very end. Jury trials require alert lawyers who know the law extremely well. Sometimes it only takes a millisecond to win or lose a trial. You need a San Diego criminal defense lawyer who knows how to keep the good evidence in and the bad evidence out. One mistake can be the difference between guilty or not guilty.

The attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have the skills and expertise to provide you with the best possible defense to your felony case. Our experienced defense attorneys can be reached by phone at 1-888-749-0034 or through our website at www.wklaw.com. We will be there when you call.

Keep reading to learn the next step in defending a felony case.

The eighth step in defending a felony charge is the preliminary hearing. The preliminary hearing occurs when the case has not been resolved at the readiness conferences because the prosecutors would not dismiss the charges and the client would not plead guilty. The preliminary hearing is like a mini trial, without a jury, except that the prosecutors need not prove that the client is guilty beyond all reasonable doubt. Instead, the prosecutors need only prove that there is a strong likelihood that a crime occurred and that the client committed it.

At the preliminary hearing, the prosecutors are required to put on evidence and have their witnesses (or at least some of their witnesses) testify. These witnesses are subject to cross examination by your lawyer. You also have a right to put on evidence and have your witnesses testify, but your right to do so is limited. In fact, many times lawyers decide not to put on any evidence at all. The reason for this is that it is sometimes better to see the evidence against you without tipping your hand and revealing your case strategy. Other times, it may be greatly beneficial to put on all the evidence you can. A client is only permitted to put on evidence that goes toward an affirmative defense—evidence that shows that you are not guilty.

If you win the preliminary hearing, your case is dismissed. If the prosecutors win, then the judge will deem you “bound over” to continue with the criminal procedure. The next step in the procedure would be an arraignment on an “information.” Information is like a criminal complaint. In fact it is oftentimes the same exact document. The courts just give it a different name to signify that you are now at the post-preliminary hearing stage of the process.

The attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have the skills and expertise to provide you with the best possible defense to your felony case. Our experienced felony defense California attorneys can be reached by phone at 1-888-749-0034 or through our website at www.wklaw.com. We will be there when you call.

Keep reading to learn the next step in defending a felony case.

The seventh step in defending a felony charge is the follow up stage. This includes the previous efforts of fact-finding and character-building, along with another readiness conference. It basically entails all work that has not yet been completed, but that must be completed before a case can be resolved.

For example, perhaps a lawyer has not spoken to one of the witnesses yet because the witness was out of town. Or perhaps one of the experts has not yet rendered an official opinion in writing. Or perhaps we do not have all of the character letters that we want yet. We should hopefully have all of these things at the time of the next readiness conference so that we are in the best position to get the best resolution possible on the case. This stage may or may not include multiple readiness conferences, depending on the circumstances.

The attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have the skills and expertise to provide you with the best possible defense to your felony case. Our experienced defense attorneys can be reached by phone at 1-888-749-0034 or through our website at www.wklaw.com. We will be there when you call.

Keep reading to learn the next step in defending a felony case.

The sixth step in defending a felony charge is the readiness conference, also called a pretrial conference. This is the next court hearing. At this hearing, typically your lawyer will meet with the prosecutor and the judge to discuss the case. They will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence. They will discuss the equities and fairness issues. They will also discuss what evidence has yet to be revealed. If there is some evidence that your lawyer wants but has not yet received from the prosecutor, then that will be brought up and requested. They will also discuss possible resolutions to the case. Your lawyer will try to get the entire case dismissed or some charges dismissed or reduced to lesser charges, including misdemeanors. If a dismissal is impossible, they may discuss possible sentence and of course your lawyer will use all the best arguments for the least sentence allowed by law.

The attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have the skills and expertise to provide you with the best possible defense to your felony case. Our experienced Los Angeles felony crime defense attorneys can be reached by phone at 1-888-749-0034 or through our website at www.wklaw.com. We will be there when you call.

Keep reading to learn the next step in defending a felony case.

The fifth step in defending a Southern California felony charge is the character-building stage. This part may also involve a lot of work. When judges and prosecutors see the case for the first time, they see the client in a bad light. We need to do everything we can to change the prosecutor’s perspective on the type of person you are. We need to persuade the prosecutors and the judges that you are a good person, not the criminal they think you are.

In order to do this, we try to get all the character letters we can. If the prosecutors think you are a thief, we want letters from people saying you are honest and trustworthy. If they think you are a bad parent, we want people who can say what a great parent and/or babysitter you are and always have been. If they think you are a drunk, we want evidence that you are not. If in fact you do drink too much, we may need to get you in some AA meetings and/or rehab and/or substance abuse counseling. If they think you are violent and angry, we may need you to take anger management classes. Whatever it takes, the goal is to show that you are not the bad person the prosecutors are making you out to be.

The attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have the skills and expertise to provide you with the best possible defense to your felony case. Our experienced defense attorneys can be reached by phone at 1-888-749-0034 or through our website at www.wklaw.com. We will be there when you call.

Keep reading to learn the next step in defending a felony case.