felony crime defenses

It was recently reported in the OC Register that Freddy Pacheco, suspected of armed robbery of a Chevron gas station in Lake Forest last week, was arrested for a second robbery attempt of a mobile vendor in Laguna Hills on Saturday night. Pacheco was booked on suspicion of armed robbery in both Laguna Hills and Lake Forest, and was taken to Orange County Jail on the $250,000 warrant issued for the Lake Forest robbery. From the gas station’s videotape surveillance and other forensic evidence, authorities believe it was Pacheco who entered the Chevron gas station and pulled a semi-automatic handgun from his front pocket and threatened the clerk to either give Pacheco the money or Pacheco would kill him. The clerk handed over the money and called the police after the suspect fled.

Under California Penal Code (CPC) Section 211, robbery is defined as the “felonious taking” of personal property in the possession of another, from his person or immediate presence, and against his will, accomplished by means of force or fear. “Felonious taking” is defined as the illegal taking away of something. Robbery is classified as a felony and is a serious offense. Under the Penal Code, robbery is broken down into two degrees. First degree includes such actions as robbery of a mode of public transportation (bus, taxi, etc), any passenger on such a hired vehicle, an inhabited dwelling, an ATM transaction, or an inhabited portion of a building. All other robberies are in the second degree. The punishment for first degree robbery can be up to nine years in a state prison. The punishment for second degree robbery can be up to five years.

Felony robbery is a strike under California’s Three Strikes law. See California Penal Code Section 667, 1192.7(c)(19). If this offense is your third strike, you will face 25 years in state prison.

For more information on this crime, visit our site at ww.wklaw.com and read our robbery section.

Robbery charges, in whatever degree, is a serious offense. It is therefore necessary to retain out experienced legal representation immediately. The criminal defense attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have been handling robbery cases for more than 20 years. Out Southern California attorneys will do a thorough investigation of all the facts and raise all possible defenses on your behalf. Facing possible imprisonment in state prison is a terrifying ordeal, and we will be here for you throughout this experience. Call Wallin & Klarich today at (888) 280-6839 and visit us on out website at www.wklaw.com to speak with one of our attorneys regarding your matter. We will be there when you call.

CNN recently reported that a 13-year-old boy, Demarco Harris, has been convicted of murdering a woman during a robbery and will remain in juvenile detention until he turns 21 according to the juvenile laws of Michigan. After Harris’ 21st birthday, the court will either release Harris from custody or sentence him as an adult to life in prison without the possibility of parole. If Harris is convicted of a felony while he is in custody, he will automatically be sentenced as an adult to life in prison.

The goal of the California juvenile justice system is the treatment and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders. However, under the Welfare and Institutions Code, section 602, a child as young as 14 years of age can be prosecuted directly in adult court for the commission of certain serious felonies including murder and rape. If prosecuted as an adult, these crimes carry life imprisonment or death as the punishment.

While the District Attorney can file a case directly against a child in adult court for certain types of serious felonies, the more common method is through a “Fitness Hearing” under section 707 of the Welfare and Institutions Code. At a fitness hearing, the juvenile judge would decide whether to send your child to adult court by considering your child’s criminal sophistication, rehabilitation prospects, previous delinquent history, any previous rehabilitation attempts by the juvenile court, and the circumstances and gravity of the offenses alleged to have been committed by your child.

Being convicted of a juvenile offense will have serious and lasting repercussions for your child. If your child has been charged with a juvenile offense you must seek the assistance of an experienced defense attorney immediately. Our attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have over 30 years of experience taking on cases just like yours. We will look at the particular facts of your case to determine the best defense strategy available to you that will result in the best possible outcome. Call us today at 888-749-0034 or visit us online at www.wklaw.com. We will be here when you call.

The New York Times recently reported that Lindsay Lohan was found in violation of probation when her alcohol monitoring device detected the presence of alcohol in her system following the MTV Movie Awards. Ms. Lohan was ordered to wear the monitoring device in May after missing a probation hearing stemming from her 2007 arrests on drunken-driving and misdemeanor drug charges. At that time an arrest warrant had been issued for Ms. Lohan and was revoked when she posted $100,000 bail. After Ms. Lohan’s most recent probation violation, a warrant was issued for her arrest, and bail was doubled to $200,000. The warrant was revoked when she posted bail.

It is California public policy to decrease the likelihood of repeat drug offenses by providing rehabilitation services to those convicted of nonviolent drug possession offenses. Under the California Penal Code Section 1210.1(a), any person convicted of nonviolent drug possession will receive probation instead of incarceration. As a condition of probation, the defendant must participate in and complete an appropriate drug treatment program. In addition, the court can require participation in vocational training, family counseling, literacy training and/or community service. It is important to note that a court may not impose incarceration as an additional condition of probation.

If you have been charged with a nonviolent drug possession offense, it is important that you retain an experienced criminal defense attorney as soon as possible. If you successfully complete your drug treatment program, all charges will be dropped. However, if at any point during the course of your drug treatment you have been found to be un-amenable to the drug treatment programs, for example by consistently violating your probation, the probation department can revoke probation and impose incarceration as the appropriate alternative punishment.

If you or a loved one has been charged with a nonviolent drug possession offense, you should seek the assistance of an experienced criminal defense attorney, as the consequences of probation violation in nonviolent drug possession cases can become serious. Our criminal defense attorneys at Wallin & Klarich have over 30 years of experience taking on cases just like yours. We will look at the particular facts of your case to determine the best defense strategy that will result in the most advantageous outcome. Call us today at 888-749-0034 or visit us online at www.wklaw.com. We will be here when you call.

It was recently reported that a 62-year-old executive director of a mental hospital in Northern California was recently arrested and booked into custody in Long Beach for allegedly molesting his foster child for more than a decade.

Claude Edward Foulk, director of the Napa State Hospital, was taken into custody at the hospital by Long Beach police following a five-month investigation that began in September when a former victim stepped forward. Foulk now stands accused of sexually molesting his foster son from 1992, when the boy was 10-years-old, to 2003.

Child molestation charges fall under California Penal Code Section 288, which makes it illegal in California for a person to willfully commit lewd acts upon the body of any child under 14 years of age with the intent to gratify sexual arousal. A conviction for child molestation is punishable as a felony and punishment can amount to a prison sentence of up to eight years. Since Foulk is charged with 35 felony counts of child molestation, he could be facing a total of 280 years in prison.

If you are facing charges of child molestation, you need an experienced criminal defense attorney on your side. At Wallin & Klarich, our attorneys have over 30 years of experience successfully defending clients against allegations of child molestation. We will attentively develop and implement your defense strategy to help you through your case. Call us today at 888-280-6839 or visit us at www.wklaw.com. We will be there when you call.

At Wallin & Klarich, we have defended thousands of people in southern California against felony charges. Many of our clients find us through our website. One of the questions we are frequently asked is what an attorney can do to defend them against felony charges. We have already discussed the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth steps in defending a California criminal felony charge.

The ninth step involves a motion called a 995 and trial preparation. Your lawyer need not bring a 995 motion. Your lawyer will file a 955 motion when he wants to ask the judge to dismiss the case against you. This will only happen if the lawyer thinks that one or more of your constitutional rights were violated at the preliminary hearing or if the lawyer thinks that there was not sufficient evidence to hold you to answer to the charges the prosecution alleges. If the judge agrees with your lawyer, the judge will dismiss the felony case against you. If not, the case will proceed to the next step in the process, which is trial preparation.

In the trial preparation, your lawyer will continue with the fact-finding and character-building efforts, and there will be more readiness conferences, but there may also be more motions that your lawyer wants to file in anticipation of trial. The idea here is to prepare to present the evidence to a jury.

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.

At Wallin & Klarich, we have defended thousands of people in southern California against felony charges. Many of our clients find us through our website. One of the questions we are frequently asked is what an attorney can do to defend them against felony charges. We have already discussed the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth steps in defending a criminal felony charge.

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.

At Wallin & Klarich, we have defended thousands of people in southern California against felony charges. Many of our clients find us through our website. One of the questions we are frequently asked is what an attorney can do to defend them against felony charges. We have already discussed the first, second, third, and fourth steps in defending a criminal felony charge.

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.