Police officers who followed a suspect into his apartment complex were legally justified to knock down the door of an apartment that belonged to a different individual, when they detected a strong odor of marijuana emanating from the apartment and heard sounds of evidence being destroyed after announcing their presence, “Supreme Court Allows Warrantless Search of Apartment That Smelled of Marijuana”
Supreme Court: California Must Reduce Its Prison Population
Recently, the United States Supreme Court has upheld a cap imposed by a federal court on California’s prison population in order to reduce prison overcrowding and improve inmate health care. This extraordinary measure was a direct result of the state’s failure to control the growth of its own prison population. “Supreme Court: California Must Reduce Its Prison Population”
DA Cannot Hide a Bad Expert Witness Behind a Better One
In a recent decision handed down from a California Court of Appeals, the Court affirmed a criminal defendant’s Constitutional right to confront an expert witness who has prepared a report relied upon by another prosecution witness. In People v. Dungo, the DA tried at a jury trial to swap a bad “DA Cannot Hide a Bad Expert Witness Behind a Better One”
Juvenile Offenses Can Be Used as Strikes
Juvenile adjudications (convictions) can be used against adult criminal defendants under the “three strikes” law even though juvenile defendants have no right to a jury trial. The California Supreme Court, in People v Nguyen, held that prior juvenile adjudications that qualify as serious or violent felonies (“strikes”) can used to “Juvenile Offenses Can Be Used as Strikes”
Courts Allow Police to Lie to Obtain Statement
False confessions undeniably lead to the convictions of innocent suspects. Despite this harsh reality, we now have an appellate court decision reaffirming the principle that law enforcement can be trusted to use deception in order to obtain a suspects confession. However, San Diego Criminal lawyers remember well the lessons derived from the Richard “Courts Allow Police to Lie to Obtain Statement”
Analysis of the Latest Felony Sentencing Case: Traps for the Unwary Criminal Defense Lawyer
The California Supreme Court reaffirmed the principals articulated in the landmark case of Cunningham , supra, by ruling that a defendant was entitled to attack the court’s imposition of the upper term in because, under the circumstances of this case, an express waiver of jury trial on aggravating circumstances was “Analysis of the Latest Felony Sentencing Case: Traps for the Unwary Criminal Defense Lawyer”