After an incident, the police agency writes a report regarding the incident.
The prosecutor decides to file if he/she believes that the case can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
The person suspected of committing a criminal act is arrested.
If the suspect is not immediately arrested, that doesn’t mean that he/she won’t be at some later point. If arrest doesn’t happen immediately, it likely means that the police are continuing to investigate the incident and are trying to obtain sufficient evidence to arrest the suspect.
If there is delay, this may be the time when the police will try to elicit a statement from the suspect. NEVER SPEAK WITH THE POLICE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES WITHOUT CONTACTING AND CONSULTING WITH A LAWYER FIRST.
There is a bail schedule setting bail amounts for each offense. For example, a felony domestic violence bail is $50,000. A misdemeanor DUI bail amount is $5,000. When setting bail, the judge must assume that all of the allegations against the person in custody are true. Bail amounts must be constitutionally reasonable. Bondsmen typically take 10% of the bail amount as their fee, or the entire bail amount can be deposited in cash, in which case that amount will be returned to the poster after the case is over.
After the arrest, the police can release him/her O.R., which means on their own recognizance, in which case bail does not have to be posted, or they can release him/her after the bail amount set is posted.
In urging the court to release my client O.R., I argue that my client has strong ties to the community, that she has hired us to assist her through the process, that she is not a flight risk and that she will appear at each and every court appearance set. If the judge does release my client O.R., the judge can structure terms and conditions of that release; for example, attendance at weekly A.A. meetings.
In the event that the suspect is not immediately arrested, I can be hired proactively while the investigation is ongoing to try to attempt to prevent a criminal filing against my client in criminal court. I do this by trying to obtain sworn declarations of people having knowledge of matters which tend to exonerate my client or at least mitigate the situation in some way. I then coordinate with the investigating officers and attempt to submit any and all relevant information which may prevent a criminal filing.
This is one example whereby I can try to attempt to prevent criminal charges from being filed. There are cases where I am able to convince the prosecutor before his/her filing decision to hold an informal hearing in their offices instead of filing a criminal case against my client in criminal court. Typically in these hearings the complaining witness, my client and I are present with a prosecutor in an informal office hearing. After a thorough discussion of the matter, my client is most often released with no penalty.
This is the first court appearance in all criminal cases. The discovery, or the police reports and perhaps some other documents in the prosecutor’s possession that relate to the case is turned over to me at this proceeding. A ‘NOT GUILTY’ plea is entered at arraignment except in extremely rare situations.
Misdemeanors are ”low grade” criminal offenses, for example, petty theft, DUI, driving on a suspended license and trepass. You can do county jail time for all misdemeanor offenses. I CAN APPEAR FOR YOU IN COURT IN MISDEMEANOR CASES WITHOUT YOUR PRESENCE pursuant to Penal Code section 977(a). However, I will let you know if I think your appearance in court would be helpful in some way.
After a careful review of the initial documentation that the prosecutor provides at your arraignment, I may find that items are referred to that were not initially turned over to me at arraignment, such as body-worn camera videos, pictures, and other information. To this end, I may write the prosecutor a letter under Penal Code section 1054. This is an informal letter requesting additional items of information that I require to defend to you throughout the case.
There are also times when I seek information without the prosecutor’s assistance directly through the agency that I believe has control of the documentation that I seek: for example, subpoenas to a casino for video surveillance tapes or to a hospital for medical records.
The pretrial conference is set about a month after arraignment. At the pretrial conference, I conference, or discuss, the case with the prosecutor. I may speak to the prosecutor about the weaknesses in the prosecutor’s case to highlight the reasonable doubt standard that applies to all of my clients. I may speak to them about factors in mitigation, for example, a history of drug use, alcohol abuse, mental health issues, tough family situations, or marital discord. I may talk to the prosecutor about things that my client may have done after the triggering event to rehabilitate himself of herself, like attending a drug and/or alcohol rehabilitation center, AA, NA, CA and reference letters written by family, friends, employers, employees and others with personal knowledge of my client and his or her life situation and character traits. There may be several pretrial conferences set throughout a misdemeanor case.
The prosecutor's offer is an offer to settle the case short of going to trial. The offer is plead guilty or no contest to a particular charge and with specific terms and conditions of probation.
Perhaps right after the prosecutor’s offer or, more likely, on a future pretrial conference court date, I may make a counter offer if appropriate. For example, in a DUI case where the breath test results are .09, .10, and the prosecutor’s office is to plead no contest to a standard DUI, I may make a counter offer for an no contest plea to a reduction to a DUI charge, a “wet reckless” for example, or even a dry reckless or a speed exhibition. If the prosecutor wants a plea to a petty theft, I may ask for a civil compromise or a trespass charge.
Felonies are “high grade” criminal offenses. Examples of felonies are robbery, burglary, murder, rape and weapons charges. Some of these are strike-able offenses pursuant to the Three Strikes Law. Typically, you must appear with me in court in a felony case; but the judge can authorize me to appear pursuant to Penal Code section 977(b) on your behalf in some cases. You can do state prison time for all felonies. Statutorily, or by law, each felony holds three possible state prison terms, low, mid and high terms. For example, in a voluntary manslaughter case, the possible state prison terms are 3, 6, and 11 years, low, mid and high terms respectively. In a first degree burglary case, the possible state prison terms are 2, 4 and 6 years. Some felonies are able to be served in county jail in lieu of state prison.
If the prosecutor in court does not extend the offer that I am looking for to benefit my client, I may schedule an in-person or a telephone meeting with a higher-up, supervisory prosecutor to get a second opinion and to try to get the higher-up to authorize a plea agreement more in line with my counter offer.
At the “end of the road,’ when I have gone absolutely as far as I can to achieve the best possible proposed resolution, the discovery process is complete and the prosecutor has extended his/her best offer, you have a question to ask yourself and a decision to make: WILL YOU RESOLVE THE CASE SHORT OF TRIAL THROUGH A PLEA BARGAIN OR WILL YOU GO TO TRIAL? I will guide you throughout this process and be very straight-forward and honest with you in terms of the likelihood of success at trial and my opinion as to the best course of action based upon all the facts and circumstances at hand.
Always remember that when you "put twelve in the box" (jurors), you NEVER know what will happen. In August-September of 2025, I had a four-week jury trial in Santa Ana. WE HAD A SOLID CASE AND ALL OF THE FOLKS ON OUR SIDE DECIDED THAT THERE WAS NO WAY THAT THERE WOULD BE GUILTY VERDICTS. But there were.
The prosecutor must prove the case BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT. This means that if there are two reasonable conclusions based upon the evidence, one pointing to guilt and the other pointing to innocence, YOU MUST ADOPT THE ONE THAT POINTS TO INNOCENCE.
A unanimous jury is required to find guilt.
If the jurors are split, for example there are 8 jurors that vote guilty and 4 that vote not guilty, the case ends in a hung jury. Even though in my opinion, THAT MEANS THAT A UNANIMOUS VERDICT WAS NOT REACHED AND THEREFORE MY CLIENT SHOULD BE DISCHARGED, that is not the law. In a hung jury, the prosecutor can decide to try my client AGAIN. How is this fair? I can't try the case again if my client is found guilty (don't get me started).
I WOULD LOVE TO DISCUSS YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION IN DETAIL. (800) 689-1458