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 …

That’s right, I said don’t hire a lawyer you find on the internet. Why, you ask? There is an old saying: “Don’t believe everything you hear”, or in this case, everything you read. Lawyers hire marketing professionals to build their websites, write articles and optimize the sites so that the sites can be “found” by search engines. Reviews can be faked and put up on websites to promote unscrupulous attorneys. Upon calling the lawyer’s offices, sales representatives often field calls in an attempt to “close” leads as soon as possible and often without the client either meeting the lawyer or …

An Interview with Private Investigator David Hance After my last private investigator left to try his luck in reality television, I went on the hunt for someone new to help me conduct necessary investigations in my criminal and DUI cases. The person I found is very special. David Hance is a living, breathing, true believer. If Dave were a lawyer, he’d be a career public defender. Fortunately for me, Dave never went to law school, but he did get his PI license. Dave is a 46 year old divorced father of a 16 year old daughter. He lives in Studio …

Several years ago during what was later described as the “Economic Downturn”, I went searching for ways to get new business with a minimum of expense. I was introduced to a business networking group called Le Tip and joined an established chapter near Thousand Oaks, California. When I showed up at my first meeting, the guy who came to my rescue as I floundered around a room of total strangers was none other than attorney Mark Lester. Mark explained to me the way the group worked and taught me how to develop a 30 second “commercial” about what I do …

Alcohol and Drug Dependency Resources To me the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (NCADD) has been nothing more than the liaison between the court and the court ordered alcohol education program after my clients have been convicted of DUI and ordered into a program. After the case settlement, we get the paperwork from the clerk, head over to the NCADD office, pay them a fee and get our referral to an alcohol school. We then call the school directly and make an appointment to go in and sign up. Some weeks or months later, after we finish the program, NCADD …