A Deputy Los Angeles City Attorney was arrested Thursday for possession and distribution of child pornography. He was taken into custody at his home in San Pedro, California by Los Angeles Police Officers. The man, 57 year old Christopher Richard Garcia, works for the City’s “Airport Division” located at Los Angeles International Airport. Garcia was licensed to practice law in 1986 after graduating from Harvard Law School. According to the State Bar of California, Garcia has never been subject to any disciplinary action by the Bar and has been practicing law since he was licensed. Garcia is currently out of jail …

This weekend was the Budweiser Made in America Music Festival in downtown Los Angeles. Between Saturday and Sunday there were about 60 people either arrested or given a ticket to appear in court. What happens now? If one is given a citation or ticket to appear in court at a later date, then usually in three to 8 weeks they will be required to go to court to face either misdemeanor or infraction charges. If someone is physically arrested for a misdemeanor or a felony then they often have to post bail in order to get out of jail and …

Lots of lawyers take payment plans. I often joke about one lawyer who I still see in the Metropolitan traffic court who has bright orange stickers on his client files that say: “Payment Plan” in bold letters. How tacky and offensive is that? In any event, you get arrested for DUI, usually because you were in a fight with your significant other, had a bad day at work, or recently got some other type of bad news in your life. Then, to add insult to injury, you get arrested and now you need to come up with a large bunch of money …

A one-eyed gang member whose street name is “Winky” was arrested yesterday after authorities linked him to a double murder in Panorama City, California. Police say Winky, or Angel Santana, and another suspect who is still at large, shot three peopleoutside a local 7-Eleven convenience store, killing two of the victims. You might ask how a one-eyed shooter could be so effective with his disadvantage of having only one eye. In reality most people are trained to shoot with one eye closed, thus, giving Winky an advantage over other people who would have to adjust from using two eyes to only …

If I got arrested for some serious charge, like murder, I would likely want to hire a lawyer. But what if I am got driving on a suspended driver’s license? Do I need to hire a lawyer then? What if I am just under investigation for doing something wrong? Let’s say my boss thinks I stole a bunch of money at work. Do I need to hire a lawyer then? Can’t I just wait and see what happens? Maybe I can just “throw myself on the mercy of the court?” After all, I’m guilty, shouldn’t I just plead guilty?” So, …

I missed this article last week, so I will talk about it today because this is a lot of marijuana. California Highway Patrol officers in the Imperial Valley pulled over a Chevy Van that they said was weaving as it drove north on Highway 86. After pulling over the van, officers found a 30 year old man from Las Vegas who was allegedly heading home – with 2000 pounds of marijuana in his van. That’s a ton for those who aren’t that good at math — An actual ton. According to the Los Angeles Times, officers had to call out a canine …

After 18 years of running from court to court throughout Los Angeles and Southern California, one might think I would grow tired of dealing with people’s problems all day long…Can you hang on just a second, one of my clients just got picked up on a warrant…Give me a moment, one of my clients just got arrested – again…What do you mean your son is back in jail?..You were arrested for driving on a suspended license two weeks after getting arrested for DUI -and your car was impounded – your work car?..You’re out on bail on two different (third offense) …

I was licensed to practice law in May of 1996. The day after I got licensed I made my first appearance in criminal court as a lawyer. It’s been 18 years and I am still running…from court to court, that is. While a lot of my criminal defense and DUI defense work is in Los Angeles County, early on in my career I was lucky to have a cousin loan me my first office in Chatsworth. While that seemed to me to be a strange location for a law office, cousin, Brent Vallens always made it work for himself and …

A 39 year old Glendale, California man was arrested yesterday for residential burglary after police found Joshua Corbett on the Bel Air estate of Sandra Bullock. Maybe he just got lost hiking the Santa Monica Mountains. Bullock was said to have an extensive security system on the property but that did not keep out Corbett who was arrested shortly before 7:00 a.m. Bullock’s neighbors said that their dogs would not stop parking which prompted them to make an early morning call to 911. LAPD officers responded and took Corbett into custody. Bullock was said to have been out receiving an award the …

Operation High End Busts Auto Theft Ring In Los Angeles I hate to sound negative, but shouldn’t a 4 year, hundred officer, multiple agency car theft investigation yield more than 12 arrests over 21 stolen cars? Apparently, agents from the California Highway Patrol, Department of Insurance, Los Angeles Police Department and the Franchise Tax Board investigated a ring of people who falsified financial information to steal new cars from cars 18 different car dealers. The suspects then (allegedly) sold the cars or staged auto accidents with the stolen vehicles. The accident claims were then submitted to various insurance carriers in the hopes …