Understanding Your Rights When the Cops Show Up “I was completely cooperative with the cops…Won’t that help me?” “Don’t I have to answer their [cops] questions?” “I told them [cops] the truth, how can they use that against me?” These are three very common statements at my office. I hear them all the time and I have been hearing the same questions for decades. My answers are still the same, no, no and absolutely. Do you know your Miranda Rights? “Well, yes” is usually the answer. Anything you say can and will be used against you in court. We have …

These days one of the most common requests I get from clients is to help them “set up” a dispensary to sell medical marijuana. “No really”, they say, “I want to be legit”. The first thing I tell these clients is that they shouldn’t do it. Someone was in last week asking me to set him up with someone who could supply him with a larger volume of marijuana. I told him to get out. The first thing I have to say about setting up a marijuana “business” is that it is not legal. Nowhere in the California Attorney General’s Guidelines on …

Unless you live in a cave, by now you have likely heard about Ray Rice, the NFL player who was cut by the Baltimore Ravens after his video-taped domestic violence incident went viral. So I’m not going to talk about him. But reading about him, and watching the video, made me think about some other aspects of my business. It made me think how there are two sides to every story. It made me think about how we are all innocent until proven guilty and how quickly people jump to conclusions and it made me think about how technology plays a part …

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) …