By Mani Dabiri | Published January 6, 2019 | Posted in Federal and State Criminal Defense, Government Subpoenas and Investigations, Post-Conviction Defense and Appeals | Tagged Tags: billofrights, collateralconsequences, domesticviolence, DUIs, gunsandammo, habeascorpus, mensrea, murderandmanslaughter, overcriminalization, punishment, sentencingalternatives, wobblers |
New California Criminal Laws: Part One
Let’s get to it. We’ve already covered the big new bail law, which won’t go into effect until October 1. Here are three new laws effective January 1, 2019. Drunk driving will catch you an ignition-interlock device on your car. This is Senate Bill 1046. It amends the Vehicle Code to require most anyone who’s convicted of Read More
Read MoreFrom Restraining Orders to Revenge Porn
One reason to get a restraining order is if you’re the victim of revenge porn. But actually, California frowns on any kind of non-consensual pornography, whether done for revenge or not. Either way, it’s an invasion of privacy that carries civil or criminal consequences. This means the law will hold you liable for the following conduct. Read More
Read MoreCalifornia’s Restraining Order Against School Violence
There’s one other restraining order to round out our series, but the name is a mouthful. It’s the private post-secondary school-violence restraining order. This order addresses threats of violence at a private college or university or other school that provides vocational, professional, or post-secondary education. It can help protect students who the school believes or Read More
Read MoreCalifornia’s Civil-Harassment Restraining Order
Last week it was the domestic-violence restraining order, or DVRO. This week it’s the other main type of restraining order: the civil-harassment restraining order. It can help protect you from everyone else in life: from perfect strangers to people outside your immediate family or dating history. That can be a friend, a neighbor, a roommate, Read More
Read MoreCalifornia’s Domestic-Violence Restraining Order
As promised last week, here’s the scoop on restraining orders in California. First is the domestic-violence restraining order, or DVRO for short. It’s a court order that can help protect you from the abuse of people close to you. Because it’s a domestic-violence restraining order, it only applies to people who are or were married, Read More
Read MoreGet a Restraining Order
A toxic relationship can happen to anyone. You. Me. Our parents or children, siblings or relatives, friends or coworkers. And they do happen to people—all the time. They always have, and they always will, so long as the world turns and people continue to interact. If you find yourself in one, you may not know Read More
Read MoreWhy We Defend People
In 2009, I was a prosecutor in Orange County when I became a defendant in my own criminal case. I was falsely accused of domestic violence, and I was charged with two felony counts even though I was the one who called the police three times that night over my accuser’s behavior. It was surreal. Read More
Read MoreA Personal View of California’s Bail Reform
This problem of locking people up before trial is personal to me. Ten years ago, I was falsely accused of a crime, and I spent a night in jail based on one person’s word. I had committed no crime, but I was booked for and charged with felony domestic violence, and I had to take the Read More
Read MoreThe Pros and Cons of Bail Reform
We’ll see how California’s new bail law plays out in practice. On one hand, it promises to treat rich and poor alike when it comes to keeping someone in jail until any trial. It says everyone will get out within twelve hours on a misdemeanor charge, with some exceptions. And if you’re accused of a Read More
Read MoreCalifornia to End Money Bail
On August 28, Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 10 into law. It becomes effective October 1, 2019, and as you may have heard, it changes everything. It completely repeals the chapter of the Penal Code that provided for cash bail and replaces it with an entirely new one. Here’s the gist of it. If you’re arrested for Read More
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