(People v. Abdullah (Aug. 1, 2019, No. B290563) ___Cal.App.5th___ [2019 Cal. App. LEXIS 709].) In 2002, Warith Deen Abdullah was convicted of 13 counts of armed robbery and one count of assault with a deadly weapon, and sentenced to 48 years four months in state prison. The sentence included firearm…
People v. Cooper (July 18, 2019, No. B286201) ___Cal.App.5th___ [2019 Cal. App. LEXIS 648]. A jury convicted defendant and appellant Sheila Cooper of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury within 10 years of a prior driving under the influence offense. On appeal, Cooper contends the trial court erred…
Governor Newsom has selected a technology consultant from Silicon Valley, Steve Gordon, to modernize the DMV’s decades old computer system which is in part responsible for the long wait times and dysfunction which has beset the agency. Anticipating long wait lines as Californians obtain Real ID’s- federally mandated identification cards-the…
Marinelarena v. Barr, 2019 WL 3227458; (9th Cir. July 18, 2019) Immigrants with drug convictions are eligible for immigration relief when the record of conviction is vague as to the type of controlled substance. Conviction for conspiracy to sell and transport a controlled substance Marinelarena, a native and citizen of…
United States v. Haymond (2019) ___U.S.___ [139 S.Ct. 2369], 2019 U.S. LEXIS 4398; No. 17-1672 Supreme Court of the United States,, Decided June 26, 2019. Imposition of a new and higher mandatory prison term for a parole violation requires jury trial After serving a prison sentence of 38 months for…
People v. Montalvo, 2019 WL 2537611 (Cal.App. 3 Dist.), 1 (Cal.App. 3 Dist., 2019) Did a man a woman posing as undercover police officers who took property from their victims commit a robbery? The California Court of Appeal examined this issue in a case where a defendant and a female…
Flowers v. Mississippi, Supreme Court of the United States, 2019 WL 25524892019 WL 2552489,June 21, 2019 Defendant, (Flowers) who is black, was indicted for the murder of four employees of a Mississippi furniture store, three of whom were white. Flowers was tried six separate times for the murders and was…
What is a a gubernatorial pardon? [Source: Immigration Legal Resource Center; UCLA School of Law Criminal Defense Clinic https://www.ilrc.org/sites/default/files/resources/gubernatorial_pardons_in_california_ilrc_cdc_2019.pdf In California, a pardon restores certain rights people lost a result of criminal conviction, for example the ability to obtain certain professional licenses. A pardon is formal recognition that an individual…
Everyone knows that certain offenses can result in your accumulating points on your California driver’s license, and everyone should know that those points are a serious matter as too many points in too short a span of time can result in the loss of your driving privileges. Most people know…
Police need a warrant to search a cellphone, but the issue of whether law enforcement can compel someone to divulge a passcode has not been resolved. According to Apple News the Indiana Supreme Court heard arguments on the issue and the state supreme courts in Pennsylvania and New Jersey may…