2009 October Archive

The San Diego Union Tribune reported on the recent drunk driving crash that ended in the fatality of a Torrey Pines High School student. The driver of the vehicle was a 17 year old classmate of the student and is now potentially facing charges of felony DUI and gross vehicular manslaughter. The driver will not be charged as an adult according to the San Diego District Attorney’s office and his case will be handled in the juvenile courts.

If you find yourself with a minor who has been charged with a DUI, you need to take the charges very seriously and seek the assistance of a skilled San Diego Juvenile Defense attorney. Juvenile court is operated very differently from adult criminal adult court. To begin, juvenile courts have their own policies and regulations separate from adult criminal court. Juvenile courts do not offer jury trials but are handled by a judge only. The juvenile court’s goal is to help the “delinquent” minor with the use of rehabilitation, counseling, and education. But incarceration in a juvenile detention facility and/or probation can be a possibility depending on the seriousness of the crime the minor is facing. In addition, when a minor is facing DUI charges, it poses serious risks to his or her driving privileges. The minor may end up with a one year license suspension.

Given all these risks, you can see how important it is to make sure that a minor who is being charged with a DUI has an experienced and qualified DUI lawyer. Our lawyers in San Diego have the experience you need. It is also important to have an attorney experienced specifically in Juvenile Defense. Our lawyers can help ensure that your minor’s rights and future are protected. Call us today at 1-877-230-1529 or fill out our consultation form for a free evaluation of your San Diego County criminal case.

Source:http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/oct/06/bn06student-due-in-court/?&zIndex=178377

In San Diego County, prosecutors will frequently negotiate a criminal case with a criminal defense lawyer.  They will give deals where they want the defendant to plead guilty to a lesser crime instead of the crime the defendant was originally charged with. The lesser crime that is probably most-commonly offered in the prosecutors’ deals is what we call, “disturbing the peace.”

“Disturbing the peace” is Penal Code section 415. A prosecutor can prove that a defendant is guilty of disturbing the peace if the defendant did one of the following three things:

1. Fought in public, or while in public challenged someone else to fight;
2. “Maliciously and willfully” disturbed another person by making loud and unreasonable noise; or
3. Used offensive words in public that were likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction.

Unfortunately, this crime is not very well understood by San Diego police officers. When there is a fight in public, police officers will commonly arrest the person who threw the first punch on assault and/or battery charges. However, it may commonly be the case that the person who threw the first punch did so because he was egged-on by the other guy. In other words, the person arrested was really the victim of the “disturbing the peace” crime committed by the other guy.  When this happens, San Diego police arrest the real victim and start calling the real wrong-doer the victim. If the “disturbing the peace” crime were better understood, this scenario would not happen.

If you have been arrested or charged with disturbing the peace in San Diego, make sure you hire an excellent criminal defense lawyer who can fight your case for you—and with you. As a team, you need to persuade the cops and the prosecutors that they have the wrong person. If you would like to speak to a San Diego criminal defense lawyer about your disturbing the peace charge, contact Wallin & Klarich right away via phone at 1-877-230-1529 or fill out our consultation form for a free evaluation of your San Diego County criminal case.

If you have recently been arrested for a DUI, you will find that you are facing two separate cases.  One case will be a held in a criminal court while the other will be handled with the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV.) Obviously, you will be taking both of these cases very seriously. The first thing you need to do is contact an experienced San Diego DUI lawyer right away. This San Diego DUI lawyer can make a big difference in the result of both of these cases, since they are very complex. We, at Walling and Klarich, are those experienced DUI lawyers.

Your knowledgeable Wallin and Klarich San Diego DUI lawyer will begin by handling the DMV case first. The DMV case must be handled within the first 10 days following your arrest.  As your lawyers, we will schedule your DMV hearing to prevent your license from being suspended right away. If you don’t handle this right away, you will find yourself losing your driving privileges automatically after 30 days.

As your San Diego DUI lawyers, we will also be hard at work handling your criminal case. We will review the police reports and all other evidence ensuring that we can provide you with the best defense possible. We will file pretrial DUI motions which can potentially lead to a complete dismissal of your case or assist in negotiations with the prosecutors resulting in a reduction of the charges. Know that we will be striving to make certain that we come to the best possible resolution of your San Diego DUI case.

If you or someone is facing DUI charges in San Diego County, please contact Wallin & Klarich today via phone at 1-877-230-1529 or fill out our consultation form for an evaluation of your San Diego County case.

If you are being investigated for possibly committing a crime in San Diego, you may be wondering whether you should cooperate with law enforcement. San Diego police officers frequently want to interview criminal suspects. The police officers commonly tell the suspects that it is in their best interest to cooperate, and that if the suspect doesn’t talk, that he will be arrested. So, should you talk to the police? The answer is almost always NO. In the vast majority of cases that Wallin and Klarich handles, our clients regret the fact that they decided to speak to law enforcement. This error in judgment on their part often means that they have weakened their case and may do jail time due to their decision to speak to law enforcement.

San Diego police officers are allowed to lie to you, and we are often told by clients that they in fact did lie to them. Our client will say, “The cops said they wouldn’t arrest me if I told them everything but they arrested me anyway.” Frequently, the San Diego police detectives who investigate crimes obtain the most crucial evidence from the suspect himself. This almost always happens because the suspect decides to speak to law enforcement when they are first contacted. They speak to the police even before they speak to one of our experienced criminal defense lawyers at Wallin and Klarich. It is true that cooperating with the police can sometimes persuade the cops or the judge to grant you leniency. However, you will not need any leniency if the cops do not have enough evidence to arrest you in the first place.

The bottom line, and the general rule, is that you should not speak to San Diego police officers if they are investigating you as a suspect in a crime. Instead, you should immediately speak to a San Diego criminal defense firm. A knowledgeable San Diego criminal defense law firm, such as Wallin and Klarich, may very well provide you with the only person who can keep you out of jail. If you would like to speak to a San Diego criminal defense lawyer, contact us right away.

If you or someone you love is facing criminal charges in San Diego County, please contact Wallin & Klarich today via phone at 1-877-230-1529 or fill out our online consultation form for a free evaluation of your San Diego County criminal case.

San Diego Channel 6 recently reported a story on Emily Marie Thorbes. Thorbes was convicted of false impersonation, two counts of stealing, and commercial burglary in San Diego County. She stole over $72,000 from both dentists and dental patients while being employed at various dental offices in San Diego County.  She plead guilty and was sentenced to five years and four months in prison. A recommendation of her plea agreement included that she be permitted to serve her sentence in a drug rehabilitation facility run by the Department of Corrections. The judge in the case also sentenced her to pay restitution to her victims.

Commercial burglary varies from first degree burglary or residential burglary. Commercial burglary may be charged as a misdemeanor or felony depending on the value of the loss to the business.

If you or a loved one has recently been charged with commercial burglary, it is important that you find a knowledgeable and experienced San Diego criminal defense attorney who can help aggressively defend you in your criminal case. We, at Wallin and Klarich, have many experienced criminal defense attorneys, including in San Diego, who can help you with a commercial (or second degree) burglary charge. Our goal is to help resolve your case either with a dismissal or reduced charges or probation without prison time. Contact us as soon as possible so that we can begin discussing the facts of your San Diego criminal case via phone at 1-877-230-1529 or fill out our consultation form for a free evaluation of your San Diego County criminal case.

Source:http://www.sandiego6.com/news/local/story/Dental-Office-Manager-Sentenced-for-Stealing/h0ZOMUfin0-4e9_Qv82q6Q.cspx

In San Diego, California, the courts are often faced with deciding who will be granted custody of a child due to a variety of circumstances. Do you currently find yourself or a loved one involved in a child custody case? If so, it is important to understand all of the child custody laws in the state of California, especially as they are applied in San Diego. To begin, child custody can be petitioned by parents, stepparents, grandparents, or as the California Family Code Section 3040 states “any other person or persons deemed by the court to be suitable and able to provide adequate and proper care and guidance for the child.” Once all of the parties have been determined in your case, the courts must then decide who should be granted custody. The code also addresses this by stating that “custody should be granted in… [an] order of preference according to the best interest of the child.”

In San Diego, the best way to make sure you are the party that prevails, and that gains custody of your child, is to make sure you have a good San Diego child custody lawyer. The San Diego child custody lawyer that you hire can make all the difference in your case. Your San Diego child custody lawyer can help determine a plan to demonstrate that you are the best guardian of your child and that you continually have the best interest of your child in mind.

If you or someone you love is seeking custody of a child or children in San Diego County, please contact Wallin and Klarich today via phone at 1-877-230-1529 or fill out our consultation form for a free evaluation of your San Diego County criminal case.

If you have been charged with a felony in San Diego, you must make sure that you have an experienced felony criminal defense lawyer representing you.  The sentence, or punishment, on felonies always includes the possibility of going to prison for a number of years.  Facing the prospect and risk that you could be in custody for such a long time, you should not settle for a San Diego criminal defense attorney who only handles misdemeanors.  You need a felony lawyer.

A knowledgeable San Diego felony criminal defense lawyer knows how to use the law to minimize your sentence as much as possible.  But, it is not enough that your lawyer be knowledgeable; your lawyer must be a hard worker.  For felonies, your lawyer can file what we call a Sentencing Memorandum with the court.  The purpose of a Sentencing Memorandum is to explain to the judge all of the legal reasons for giving you a light sentence, as opposed to a harsh sentence.  The California Rules of Court give judges various factors that they must consider when sentencing a defendant.  That sad truth is that even many knowledgeable San Diego felony criminal defense lawyers do not write or file Sentencing Memorandums for their clients because it takes too long and they are too hard to write.  They are lazy.  That is why you need not just a smart lawyer, but a lawyer who will truly work hard on your behalf and fight for you.

The San Diego felony criminal defense lawyers at Wallin & Klarich are both knowledgeable and tireless.  We will do everything we can to give you the best representation in court and make sure you have the best possible outcome on your case.  If you would like to speak to a San Diego criminal defense lawyer, please contact Wallin & Klarich today via phone at 1-877-230-1529 or fill out our consultation form for a free evaluation of your San Diego County criminal case.

With the current hardships many of us are facing due to the economy, it’s not surprising to hear about stories like the one reported by NBC San Diego.  The story tells of a Santee elderly man who recently has been accused of robbing a Bank of America Branch in City Heights on El Cajon Boulevard.  The man said he had never done anything like this in his life but felt desperate.  His plan was to get enough money to pay off his mortgage since he feared that homelessness was in his and his wife’s near future.  He currently finds himself facing charges of three counts of burglary and one count of falsely reporting a bomb to a business.  Obviously these charges are very serious.  If convicted, this 69 year old man could face more than seven years in prison.

Do you currently find yourself in a similar situation – facing criminal charges because of something you would normally never do, due to the present economic crisis?  Did you feel that you had no other option?  If so, you will need an experienced San Diego criminal defense lawyer.   A knowledgeable San Diego criminal defense lawyer will know how to best tell your story to try to win over the sympathy of district attorney.  It is important that you find a San Diego criminal defense lawyer who sympathizes with you, who feels your pain, and who sincerely wants to help you out of your predicament.   Your attorney should be willing to listen and understand your situation to ensure that you receive the best available defense.

If you or someone you love is facing San Diego theft crime charges, please contact Wallin & Klarich today via phone at 1-877-230-1529 or fill out our consultation form for a free evaluation of your San Diego County criminal case.

You might have recently heard of the arrest of San Diego Chargers linebacker, Shawne Merriman on September 6th, 2009.  He was accused of battery and false imprisonment following an incident at his home in Poway.  His accuser, Tila Tequila Nyugen, stated that Merriman choked her and held her against her will.  Merriman told police he was trying to prevent her from driving home since she was under the influence of alcohol.  The San Diego County District Attorney declined to file charges.  Merriman was lucky unlike many other innocent people in the state of California who are falsely accused of domestic violence every day.

There are multiple reasons for why these false domestic abuse accusations could be brought up against you (or a loved one).  It can be out of anger or jealousy, for revenge, or to help your accuser in a child custody or divorce case.  Whatever the situation, if you have been accused of a domestic violence crime in San Diego County, you need an experienced San Diego domestic violence criminal defense attorney who will understand and hear your side of the case and get to the facts, an attorney who can clearly and concisely present your story to the courts.  An experienced San Diego domestic violence criminal defense attorney, if brought in early, could even potentially prevent charges from even being filed.  You could find yourself with the similar positive results as in the case above.

If you or someone you love is facing domestic violence charges in San Diego County, please contact Wallin & Klarich today via phone at 1-877-230-1529 or fill out our consultation form for a free evaluation of your San Diego County criminal case.

Field Sobriety Tests, which are often referred to as FSTs by San Diego police and San Diego criminal defense lawyers, are multiple simple exercises designed to assess a person’s capability to operate an automobile.  The most common of the FSTs are the following three:  the walk-and-turn test, the one-leg-stand, and the horizontal gaze nystagmus test (following an object with your eyes.)  They are designed to evaluate a person’s balance, coordination, and capacity to do two things at once.  There are numerous FSTs used by San Diego, California law enforcement but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has deemed many of these unreliable.  The accuracy of these tests has often been challenged by scientific studies.

It is important for you to understand that these tests are often difficult for even a sober person to pass since the “passing” assessment is done by the officer and can be very subjective.  If you or a loved one is suspected of Driving Under the Influence (DUI), know that you are not legally required to participate in field sobriety tests.  You can legally refuse to do them.  In order for the FSTs to be admissible in court, they must be done voluntarily.  You should never participate in any of these tests without consulting an experienced San Diego DUI lawyer for advice.  The San Diego DUI lawyers have a tremendous amount of experience representing people accused of DUI.  If you did perform Field Sobriety Tests, our San Diego DUI lawyers can help you determine how your performance will affect your criminal DUI case in San Diego.

If you or someone you love is facing San Diego DUI charges, please contact Wallin & Klarich today via phone at 1-877-230-1529 or fill out our consultation form for a free evaluation of your San Diego County criminal case.