Tag Archive

AB 1810, passed by the legislature and signed into law by Governor Brown this past summer and codified as Penal Code section 1001.36(link is external), is among California’s raft of recent criminal justice reforms. The law provides for pretrial diversion of individuals with specific DSM-V diagnoses if the defendant agrees to engage in a mental health treatment program targeting his or … Read More

Departing from prior precedent, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Friday that in order for law enforcement to collect a substantial amount of information from a cell phone provider about one of its subscriber’s whereabouts by using cell phone tower location information, the government must first apply for a search warrant. In Carpenter v. United States, No. 16-402, Chief Justice John Roberts, writing … Read More

We are sometimes asked what can be done to clean up a person’s Record of Arrests and Prosecutions, more commonly called a criminal record or RAP sheet. The answer, as it often is with legal questions is: It depends. In the vast majority of cases, once convicted, a criminal defendant is placed on probation. Upon successful completion of probation, that … Read More

This past year the California Legislature passed SB 395, which is designed to protect youth aged 15 or less from the pressure of custodial questioning by law enforcement and, in reality, from themselves. Under existing law, the same Miranda rights and standards for waiving those rights apply whether the person in custody is a 14- or 40-year-old. Effective January 1, 2018, this … Read More

One of the most common motions a criminal defendant and his or her attorney might bring is a motion to suppress evidence that was illegally obtained by law enforcement in violation of the defendant’s constitutional protection against warrantless, unreasonable search or seizure. This constitutional right is guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment. Instead of seeking and obtaining a search warrant from … Read More