An alleged drug dealer’s five-year prison sentence was overturned last week and charges dismissed after Los Angeles County prosecutors conceded that police included false information in an arrest report to protect the identity of a confidential informant. The Los Angeles Daily News reports the District Attorney’s office told a judge…
The Los Angeles Times reports that California’s Proposition 5—aka the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act (NORA)–was defeated by a margin of roughly 60 percent to 40 percent. As I discussed in an earlier post, the measure, which drew the attention of drug policy advocates nationwide, was regarded by some as “the…
That’s the question the U.S. Supreme Court was considering when they heard oral arguments in Oregon v. Ice— a case adressing whether under Apprendi v. New Jersey (2000), a sentencing judge violates the Sixth Amendment by imposing consecutive sentences based on a fact not found by the jury or admitted…
The L.A. Daily News is reporting that a Thousand Oaks man who targeted immigrant women and children plead guilty yesterday to crimes against four women. The Ventura County District Attorneys Office says that 79-year-old man entered pleas to five charges sexual battery to lewd acts with a child. Allegedly, the…
A Riverside man who was jailed for two years as a suspect in 40 arson fires has sued Riverside Fire Department officials and a dog handler who linked him to the crimes by using a controversial device intended to pick up human scent at crime scenes. Michael Espalin is now…
Richard Winton of The Los Angles Times reports today that nearly 200 potential sexual assault cases have gone without prosecution because Los Angeles Police officials failed to test them within the 10-year statute of limitations period required to identify and charge a suspect in a sexual crime. These claims come…
In May, the former director of UCLA’s Willed Body Program, Henry Reid, was indicted by a grand jury for selling body parts to businessman Ernest Nelson who resold them to medical research companies. The LA Times reports that today, Mr. Reid plead guilty to felony charges that he damaged or…
The weak economy has forced people to find creative ways to supplement their income. The Los Angeles Times reports that a surge in the price of copper has produced an outbreak of theft of copper wires from light poles. And, according to reports, there have been at least eight thefts…
According to a recent study, immigrants—including immigrants living in Orange County—are far less likely than the average U.S.-born citizen to commit crime in California. The Public Policy Institute of California report, that can be found here, said that while people born outside the United States make up about 35 percent…
Sponsors of the Proposition 5 are asking voters in November to increase treatment and eliminate incarceration for those convicted of nonviolent, drug-related crimes. The Los Angeles Times reports that the Nonviolent Offender Rehabilitation Act, funded in part by billionaire George Soros, would be “the most ambitious sentencing and prison reform…