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 MoreThe Federal First Step Act of 2018
Here’s more meat on the bones of the new sentencing law from last week. Earning credit toward early release. You can earn 10-15 days of credit for every thirty that you participate in certain programs. These may include work programs, academic classes, vocational training, trauma counseling, substance-abuse treatment, faith-based services, and family-building and parenting. The credits Read More
Read MoreOn the Friday Before Christmas …
When all through the House, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse: Congress enacted a major change to federal sentencing law. It’s called the First Step Act, and you may have heard about it. Here’s a press release on it from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. What does it do? About ten things. Read More
Read MoreJudge Regrets Sentencing Teen to Life Without Parole
Speaking of harsh penalties, how’s 241 years in prison for a 16-year-old boy? Well, it happened to this boy twenty years ago. The judge who sentenced him told him he’d die in prison. She told him he wouldn’t even be eligible for parole until 2091, when no one he knew would be alive, anyway. One can Read More
Read MoreThey May Be Intelligent, But Are They Wise?
Speaking of fair shakes, here is a wise word of caution about the emerging, expanding use of computer programs to evaluate people in the justice system, whether at bail hearings, sentencings, or elsewhere. The author is a former software engineer at Facebook who’s now studying law at Harvard. Her point isn’t that we shouldn’t use or consult these programs, but Read More
Read MoreNo Correlation Between Drug War and Use
According to an independent, well-regarded think tank, there is statistically no reason to think that we can reduce drug abuse by locking more people up. The nonprofit Pew Charitable Trusts spelled it out in a letter this summer to a federal commission that’s looking at ways to combat the widespread problem of opioid abuse. Its study, which drew on data Read More
Read MoreReduce Your California Felony Conviction to a Misdemeanor
Can you do that? Yes, you can. Look up Penal Code Section 17(b) if you don’t believe us. You can also reduce certain felonies to misdemeanors under Proposition 47, and we wrote about that previously here. Under Section 17(b), you can even reduce your felony to a misdemeanor long after you’ve served out your sentence. If Read More
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