In 2012, California voters passed Proposition 36 by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent, and significantly changed California’s well known “Three Strike You’re Out” law. Prior to Proposition 36, when a defendant was convicted of any felony after already suffering two prior serious felony convictions, they would be “Three Strike Offenders Eligible for Resentencing, But There Are Restrictions”

In the 1980s, there was an explosion of gang related crimes in California.  In 1988 the California Legislature responded by enacting the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act, also known as the gang enhancements law.  For anyone convicted of a felony, if the prosecution is also able to prove “Gang Enhancements”

The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution states that people have the right to privacy and that extends to the right against unreasonable searches and seizures.  Police are not permitted to search a person without reasonable suspicion or probable cause, and they cannot search a home without probable cause and a “Is That Dog Sniffing Your Front Door Violating Your Privacy?”

Last night California voters approved a limited modification of the state’s notorious “Three Strikes” law. Most criminal defendants who have two prior convictions for a serious or violent felony will no longer face a 25 years to life sentence. The amended provision of the law mandates a life sentence for “Three Strikes Law Modified by Proposition 36”

The Sixth Amendment of the United States Constitution grants a criminal defendant the right to confront adverse witnesses.  Prosecutors cannot introduce testimonial out-of-court statements at trial without calling the witness to testify and without permitting the defendant to cross-examine that witness.  If a statement is not testimonial, however, a defendant “CA Supreme Court Says Lab Report Does Not Violate Confrontation Rights”