In 2015, Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals removed the Orange County District Attorney’s Office from the trial of Scott Dekraai, who was accused and since convicted of the worst mass murder in Orange County. Judge Goethals booted the District Attorney’s Office from the case after an investigation…
Zulmai Nazarzai was never convicted of a crime; he was never even charged with a crime. Yet he has been sitting in solitary confinement in the Orange County jail for six years now. That is a long time to spend in solitary confinement. In 2010, the California attorney general…
THE FIRST RULE TO FOLLOW AFTER AN ARREST: REMAIN SILENT EXCEPT TO REQUEST AN ATTORNEY There is a scene in the Showtime series “Billions” where one of the characters is arrested by the F.B.I. for financial fraud. As he is read his Miranda rights and led away in handcuffs, he…
THE TERRY STOP – “STOP AND FRISK” DETENTION You’ve seen it in the movies and on TV shows: The police approach a person on the street or tell them to get out of a vehicle after a traffic stop and command the person to submit to a frisk. In my…
YOUR RIGHTS WHEN THE POLICE STOP AND QUESTION YOU If a police officer stops you in a public place and begins asking you questions, what rights do you have? (Note that this post does not apply to a DUI stop. For information on your rights if you are stopped for…
INTERROGATE UNTIL THEY CONFESS In 1989, a female jogger was brutally assaulted and raped when she was jogging through Central Park. Five males, ages 14 to 16 at the time, were arrested and confessed to the crime. They were tried and convicted in two separate trials. They became known as…
The police regularly use confidential informants to gather information about criminal activity. The use of confidential informants is legal and an important tool in law enforcement’s tool box. But the practice of recruiting jail house informants is often illegal. So what’s the difference? Most people in jail are represented…
“THE STINGRAY” STING Daniel Rigmaiden might have seemed a bit crazy to his attorneys. He was arrested in 2008 after he was caught in his elaborate and meticulous scheme filing fraudulent tax claims while living “off-grid” in the woods. He couldn’t understand how the authorities found him; he operated on…
OFFICER MISCONDUCT AND THE PITCHESS MOTION You are driving late at night and your eye catches flashing red lights in your rearview mirror. Your mind races—you were driving at the speed limit, didn’t run any stop signs or the like—why was the officer stopping you? You pull over and the…
CALIFORNIA ENDS GRAND JURY HEARINGS IN FATAL POLICE SHOOTINGS California is the first state to announce that it will ban grand juries in the preliminary determination on whether a law enforcement office should face criminal charges after killing someone in the line of duty. The reasoning behind the ban, which…