Blog

CALL US FOR A FREE CONSULTATION

Call Us831-426-5800

Call Us831-566-4357

303 Potrero Street, Suite 30
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Recent blog posts

The media says that reporters appear to be the targets of people in a string of recent alleged California robberies. The latest alleged incident was reported last week, when a KTVU reporter was covering a bike accident in the Oakland Hills. The reporter says that several men approached her and her cameraman and stole equipment from the company van.

The TV reporter radioed the station, who called police after the alleged robbery. The media personnel say that one of the men who approached the media truck yelled that the reporter should be shot as the men pushed their way into the van. Neither media worker was injured. The alleged robbery of media personnel is apparently not the first in Oakland in recent months.

An Oakland Tribune photographer reported earlier in the week that she too was robbed while covering a story. She says that she was photographing a mural when someone reportedly stole her laptop and camera.

...

Some business owners in an upscale Stockton, California neighborhood joked that an alleged burglar did some remodeling at their stores recently. Officials claim someone broke into a vacant store front and then used that access to break through walls into existing neighboring businesses. A dry cleaner, a Mexican restaurant and a pizza place were among those broken into in the alleged string of commercial burglaries.

Business owners quipped that the walls may have to be left alone. If a customer wanted an enchilada while at the pizza joint, the hole in the wall could help to accommodate the customer, the business owners reportedly said to News 10 in Sacramento. However, the business owners did reportedly scramble to repair the damage from the incident.

Authorities say the alleged burglar first entered an unoccupied storefront business and then broke through the drywall separating the other businesses. Police claim that the California burglar went from store to store taking a variety of items. The owner of one of the businesses was shocked and amazed that the alleged burglar was so sophisticated, according to News 10.

...

A Southern California Assemblyman apparently wants to add more registration requirements for people who are released from California prisons, or people whose sentence has been deemed to have been served when entering post-release community supervision after a California felony conviction. The Assemblyman was joined by a Southern California police chief during a pitch of the idea to the public safety committee of the California Senate.

Current California law requires people entering post-release community supervision to enter an agreement with county officials. The agreement includes a number of requirements, including registration in the person's county of residence. Proponents of the new measure want to add another potential layer of registration, if a local agency decides to pass a local ordinance.

The Assembly bill seeks to give municipalities, or city and county relationships, to pass local ordinances requiring people placed on community supervision to register with local law enforcement agencies when taking up residence in the city, or city and county. Obviously, critics of the Assembly proposal say that the measure would add yet another requirement that could easily trip up a probationer, leading to exposure to more time behind bars.

...

Roughly two years ago deputies arrested a Sacramento man on suspicion of burglary. Before trial, the case boiled up through the appellate courts. The man's criminal defense lawyer argued that the man could not be charged with a completed burglary because there was no evidence the man ever entered the building. The trial court disagreed, and reportedly bound the accused over for trial.

An appellate court later handed down a split decision reversing the trial court ruling. The California Supreme Court has now unanimously agreed that prosecutors cannot proceed with burglary charges against the Sacramento area man.

The case arose from allegations arising on July 24, 2010. Law enforcement claims that the man had stood on a driveway and used a remote control to open a garage door. The homeowner claims to have heard the garage open and ran into the garage. He says that he saw a man standing in the driveway who then ran away from the home.

...

The young man is being tried as an adult on allegations that he had tried to impress a girl in an elaborate automobile theft scheme. Prosecutors allege that someone rappelled into a Marin County automobile showroom to get a 2008 Lamborghini. Later, authorities say the teen drove the $200,000 car in hopes of impressing a 17-year-old girl.

Prosecutors have brought a charge of attempted murder against the 17-year-old based upon what police claim occurred when the teen allegedly drove the car. Authorities believe that the girl rejected the young man. In apparent retaliation for the rejection, prosecutors claim that the teenager fired a gun toward the girl and her boyfriend in Mill Valley April 13.

Authorities say that investigators tailed the teenager during an investigation into the alleged report of the drive-by shooting. Police claim that the teen led authorities to a storage facility. Law enforcement claims that the car, two rifles and shotgun shells were seized at the storage facility, along with a smattering of other items.

...

The alleged driver of the car was the only Marine to survive that night. He had suffered head trauma and sustained a broken arm. The man was knocked unconscious in the crash. Authorities claim that alcohol tests taken after the crash indicate that the man tested for a 0.16 percent blood alcohol level.

The Marine has now been formally charged with three counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated without gross negligence. Prosecutors are also reportedly seeking sentencing enhancements in the felony DUI criminal case.

Military and civilian witnesses who were at the tavern where the four Marines are believed to have spent more than three hours the night of the crash say that the man accused of drunk driving had not been drinking that night. The witnesses reportedly say that the 25-year-old man accused of drinking and driving was the designated driver.

...

Authorities claim that they found the woman at her apartment complex with cuts on her hands, arms and her abdomen. The father of her child was also at the apartment, and police claim that he had the woman's blood on him. Investigators say that the woman had told the man to leave the apartment, and the issue boiled up into a domestic dispute.

The couple reportedly has had an on-again-off-again relationship. The couple have a child together, but later had broken up about one year ago, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Sources say that the couple got back together recently, and the man moved in with the woman.

Apparently, she says that she wanted him out and told him to leave Tuesday. The woman is believed to have left the apartment expecting her boyfriend to leave while she was gone. When she returned, she says the man was still there, and armed with a knife.

...

Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputies have arrested a woman who works as a drug counselor at a local Santa Cruz drug counseling center. The woman is facing serious drug charges after deputies raided her home last week.

Authorities claim that they found 6.7 grams of heroin in the Santa Cruz resident's home. Deputies also say that they seized cash and materials they are characterizing as packaging items in the raid.

Sheriff's Department officials claim that they fielded repeated complaints of alleged drug deals at the woman's Santa Cruz home. One neighbor claims that drug deals have been going on in the neighborhood for the past year, according to Central Coast News. That person says several neighbors had called in tips to the Anonymous Tip line about the alleged drug sales.

...

A spokesman for the Kings County Sheriff's Department says that when management and supervisors in the unit learned that the deputy smelled of alcohol, he was called back into the sheriff's office. Investigators called in the California Highway Patrol to investigate the man for evidence of alcohol.

The deputy now accused of DUI while on the job was scheduled for the night shift. Authorities claim the deputy had admitted to drinking before reporting for work. The accused has been with Kings County for nine years. He has been placed on administrative leave from the sheriff's office, pending an internal investigation.

He is also facing serious charges in criminal court. The 49-year-old deputy was booked into the Kings County Jail. He was released after six hours and is scheduled to appear in court in July on DUI charges.

...

Police in Southern California claim that an errant text message led to the arrests of two men who are suspected of California drug crimes. A narcotics suppression officer says that he received a text message from someone who allegedly was seeking to sell drugs. Although it is unclear what cellphone the text message was sent to, the cop says he played along and set up a meeting for a drug deal.

The officer claims that he asked to buy about two grams of methamphetamine from the unknown person sending the errant text message. He reportedly set up a location and time for the meeting. The officer then contacted the drug unit at the Sheriff's department about the alleged drug sting. Deputies went to the location and found a man, who they say had roughly two grams of meth in his possession.

While at the alleged drug deal location, deputies say a second man arrived. Law enforcement suspects the second man as the drug supplier. They reportedly seized roughly 7 grams of meth from the second man. Detectives claim a review of the second man's cellphone contents had information that corroborated the details of the drug deal that was set up by the police officer.

...

This year, Cinco de Mayo falls on a weekend. Law enforcement agencies all across the state are planning a variety of DUI enforcement efforts to mark the holiday. DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols are common events in California, regardless of whether or not a holiday is involved. But Californians can usually expect local law enforcement agencies and the California Highway Patrol to step-up DUI enforcement details when a recognizable holiday approaches.

Police agencies often use a variety of tactics during stepped-up enforcement operation surrounding a holiday weekend. Checkpoints and saturation patrols may not be the only strategies that police may seek to employ to enforce California DUI laws. A story from the Bay Area highlights the type of unique strategies an agency may use in an effort to find drunk drivers.

The San Francisco Police plan to send officers out on motorcycles Friday night to look for drunk drivers. A captain with the police department says that, "Our Harley Davidson Road Kings have a lot of maneuverability advantages over regular patrol cars." Police say that most motorists do not notice the bikes until it is too late. The police captain says officers on a Harley "can ride right up to the driver's window and check for any signs of alcohol or drug impairment."

...

Investigators in Santa Clara County claim that DNA evidence points to a Morgan Hill man in the Sierra LaMar case. Law enforcement arrested the Morgan Hill man Monday on suspicion of kidnapping and murder in the disappearance of the 15-year-old young woman. Authorities say that they have direct and circumstantial evidence against the 21-year-old man who was booked into jail earlier this week.

Investigators claim that they had many suspects during the investigation into the disappearance of the young woman. However, authorities now say that they believe the young woman is dead and the Morgan Hill man is the only remaining suspect. Although authorities say many suspects were looked at during the investigation, the Morgan Hill man was placed under 24-hour surveillance beginning on March 28.

The man's mother says that the family found GPS devices attached to both of the family vehicles. Police say that they had secretly attached a GPS device to the Morgan Hill man's red Jetta hoping to find the missing 15-year-old. Several weeks ago authorities reportedly seized the Morgan Hill man's Jetta.

...

The California three strikes law provides authority for prosecutors to seek, and for judges to impose, a prison sentence that is doubled for an adult convicted of any felony if the defendant has a first strike on his or her record. A strike is associated with serious or violent felony convictions, and the law recognizes serious or violent felony convictions of 16 or 17-year-old defendants in juvenile court.

Cases in juvenile court are tried before a judge without a jury. Supreme Court precedent says that a criminal defendant has the right to a jury trial on any fact that is used to increase a jail or prison sentence.

A San Jose man pled guilty to residential burglary in 2010. Prosecutors pulled out a prior robbery conviction that was rendered in juvenile court when the man was 16. That conviction involved allegations that the juvenile took $117 in a robbery of an ice cream vendor. The case in juvenile court was not presented to a jury. Prosecutors used the juvenile conviction as a first strike in seeking a doubled sentence for the 2010 adult conviction.

...

In light of the football star's recent and tragic death, neighbors are outraged that the burglary occurred. Law enforcement says that someone apparently rummaged through cabinets inside the garage before taking a bicycle valued at around $500. The theft is believed to have occurred May 7.

News of the event spread across the country. Wednesday, a woman who had heard of the bicycle theft was riding her own bike in Oceanside and spotted a bicycle outside a thrift store that she believed matched the description of the stolen bike. Police say that they recovered the bike thanks to that woman. No arrests have been made in the case, as investigators continue to look into the event.

The bicycle has been returned to its owner-a friend of Seau. The friend of the late football star reportedly is happy to have the bicycle back.

...

Firefighters in Richmond, California, say that they found a large marijuana growing operation inside a warehouse that caught on fire early Wednesday morning. The fire department responded to a call reporting an electrical fire in the structure, and the crew found what they claim is a marijuana cultivation operation as they worked to control the blaze. The fire department called in law enforcement to investigate.

Police claim that the woman who reported the fire may have been a "lookout" for the marijuana cultivation site. Authorities have made no arrests, but police say that the woman has been questioned. Details of what authorities may have found inside the warehouse remain sketchy. Law enforcement officials say that they are working on obtaining a search warrant for the location.

The details that authorities have revealed suggest that police believe the marijuana grow includes a sophisticated setup, with separate rooms within the building devoted to different phases of the marijuana cultivation operation.

...

The man was not accused of being present during the alleged kidnapping event. Authorities had claimed that the man was the leader of a Nuestra Familia street gang regiment. Prosecutors argued that the man had ordered others to make an example of a person who allegedly had failed to pay for drugs that had been advanced to him.

Prosecutors apparently brought witnesses in to court to testify at trial against the alleged San Jose gang leader. The witnesses reportedly included those people who allegedly had participated in the kidnapping. The witnesses could have faced their own life sentences for the alleged offense, but apparently were given deals for testifying that will reduce their own exposure to prison time to 15 to 24 years.

The prosecutors had alleged that the kidnapping victim escaped from a moving van while it was traveling on Capitol Expressway. The van reportedly fled the area before police and emergency responders could respond to 911 calls describing the expressway incident.

...

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's department says that the trio may face dozens of counts of conspiracy and California burglary charges in relation to an investigation conducted by the Sheriff's Department's Major Crimes Bureau.

Authorities claim that an off-duty Sheriff's deputy spotted a Nissan Murano drive past his home around 4:00 in the morning one day in March. The off-duty deputy says that he noticed a bike rack on the vehicle and became suspicious of the sight. He decided to take down its license plate number of the vehicle.

Several days after the alleged sighting of the SUV, the deputy claims a neighbor told deputy that two of his bikes had recently been stolen. The deputy apparently pulled out the license number and tracked the SUV to the three men who are now accused of stealing nearly 200 bikes over a two-year-period spanning six different counties.

...

Most, if not all, drivers know that California law prohibits driving under the influence. California law, like every state in the union presumes impairment based upon a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent. Many drivers, however, are surprised to hear when a chemical test returns a result of presumed impairment after a DUI arrest.

A recent story in the news that highlights the situation involves a Southern California Assembly member who was arrested in late March on DUI charges. The assemblyman, who has the right to remain silent under the law, reportedly told reporters after this arrest that he was not drunk the night of his arrest.

He reportedly said that he had some wine with dinner, but was not drunk. He also reportedly told the news media that law enforcement lacked probable cause to conduct a traffic stop.

...

California's laws prohibiting driving under the influence involve more than restrictions against impairment from alcohol. Drugged driving, or prescription medication DUI offenses, can haunt medical patients who may be hauled into court on allegations of driving under the influence. Santa Cruz DUI defense lawyers know that California treats any DUI charge harshly.

A recent California case involves allegations of a so-called "Whip-it" canister containing nitrous oxide. A 22-year-old Folsom man is accused of serious DUI-related charges after a tragic double-fatal car accident in January. The man is facing two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter.

A judge in Sacramento County ordered that the Folsom man stand trial on the gross vehicular manslaughter charges at a preliminary hearing April 24. Prosecutors reportedly introduced testimony at the preliminary hearing that the Folsom man had bought 50 canisters of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, at a Folsom Smoke shop on the day of the car accident.

...

Police apparently approached two people early Saturday morning at an undisclosed business in Napa. Law enforcement believed the two were under the influence of drugs and placed the two people under arrest, according to the Vallejo Times-Herald.

Somehow, Napa police learned that one of the arrestees has an 8-year-old child, and law enforcement says that they became concerned about the child's whereabouts. An investigation into the child's whereabouts may eventually lead to serious charges for alleged drug crimes.

Napa Police claim that they received "misleading and conflicting information" about where the 8-year-old might be located. Authorities descended on the mother's home after the 2:00 a.m. arrest Sunday and claim to have entered the woman's apartment, possibly without a warrant based upon information reported in the media, to search for the child. Authorities claim that they found the child inside the home.

...
Back to Top