I represented a man on appeal after a jury had found him guilty of felony evasion and a trial court had wrongfully sentenced him under the Three Strikes Law. On appeal, I challenged the out-of-state prior strike, arguing the requirements for a robbery conviction in Washington are slightly different than those in California. The Court of Appeal agreed and reversed the trial court’s finding—cutting my client’s total prison sentence in half and significantly increasing his custody credits so he could get back home to his family much sooner.

My client was required to register as a sex offender. The prosecution charged him with failing to register his girlfriend’s address in violation of Penal Code section 290.010 and alleged he had suffered a prior strike conviction, doubling his state prison time exposure. The court twice denied pre-trial Romero motions to dismiss the prior strike allegation. At trial, the prosecutor tried to attack my client; I attacked the law itself and the flawed system of sex offender registration enforcement. The jury found my client not guilty.

A K-9 unit discovered methamphetamine in my client’s truck.  Because the prosecution charged my client as a second striker and accused him of transporting meth from one county to another noncontiguous county, he was exposed to 80% or more of an 18-year state prison sentence.  By filing the right motions and carefully navigating the interplay of the Three Strikes Law and Realignment legislation, I was able to negotiate an outstanding settlement that allowed him to return home to his family after only 18 months of actual custody in county jail. 

I represented a man on appeal after the trial court had found him in violation of probation in two cases and sentenced him to state prison.  On appeal, I successfully argued the trial court erred when it determined it lacked authority to dismiss the prior strike allegation and grant probation, as it had initially indicated it would do. The Court of Appeal agreed and remanded the case back to the trial court to resentence my client, which ultimately sent him home a free man. 

After my client survived a bad automobile accident that caused a fatality, the DMV took action under the Negligent Operator Treatment System (NOTS) to suspend his driving privilege. Losing his driving privileges would have devastated his ability to provide for his family. I successfully executed the best possible defense strategy under the circumstances and, after the hearing, the DMV decided not to suspend my client’s driving privileges.

Officers arrested my client for grand theft after concluding he had Clue Spray from a stolen “bait bike” on his hands. During the pretrial investigation we discovered the safety seal from a Monster energy drink had left a powdery substance on his hands that glowed like Clue Spray under a black light. After a detective confirmed our results, I got his case dismissed and his factual innocence petition granted—causing all records of his arrest and charges to be sealed and destroyed.