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Orange County jurors listening to a murder for hire plot will decide whether 58 year old Sandra Jessee conspired with her son to kill her husband, who was ailing with cancer.

She allegedly gave the hitman $5,000.00 in a Placentia parking lot a year earlier with a total payment of $50,000.00. The hitman has since plead guilty to voluntary manslaughter and has cooperated with prosecutors.

It will be interesting to note whether and how the alleged hitman testified at trial. If his credibility was called into question, jurors would have to decide what weight to give his version of events and might even toss out whatever version he offered. If they did that, it would be devastating to the prosecution. If they believed him, the defense would have a hard time overcoming that version of events.

A skilled defense attorney doesn’t wait for the facts to come to him. He develops them out of the discovery he’s given, the investigation he does, and the arguments he crafts from all his preparation.

An experienced Orange County criminal lawyer knows that most trials don’t come out the way the prosecution intends them. Witnesses fold up like a lawn chair on the stand, or they take a powder and never show up at all. We’ll see what the jury says when they return a verdict.

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Osiris Abenoja is bringing a claim against the DA’s office and Garden Grove Police for keeping him in jail for over three months while they figured out they had the wrong guy.

Abenoja was accused of robbing four banks in Anaheim, Garden Grove and Fullerton as the “Armed Clown Bandit”. DNA tests proved he wasn’t the bandit. The DA then asked a judge to release him. DNA has proven vital to criminal defense attorneys in freeing their clients over the last ten years or so.

A Huntington Beach resident, Abenoja is seeking damages in excess of $10,000. It’s likely the police and DA will deny the claim, setting the stage for a lawsuit. A good Orange County Criminal Attorney would seek to have the DNA results tested as soon as possible to see if a true match existed. Frequently, there are mixtures that can confuse the evaluator as to whether the suspect’s DNA is in the sample.

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This headline really grabbed my attention because it is different than so many other stories you see about thieves. What’s different? They didn’t use a gun. They have never used a gun. They used a knife to demand cash from the clerk. Why is that so remarkable? Well, commonly, guns are used in robberies, and people often get shot during robberies.

Also, their demeanor is calm. They pose as customers. Jim Amormino at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department suggested they’re drug addicts and could harm the clerks or customers. While that is possible, drug users often act desperately in search of money to buy drugs. They act irrationally, too. They make unreasonable demands, escalate by violence and often have hair-trigger tempers.

The other thing I noticed is that they commit these robberies and assaults all over Orange County. The locations range from Anaheim and Fullerton, to San Clemente and La Palma and Placentia.

That means the suspects, if caught, could be prosecuted at the West Justice Center in Westminster, or Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, or the North Justice Center in Fullerton. The other option is for the DA to file the cases and consolidate them at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.

I’ve often wondered why these convenience stores don’t have a remote-locking front door that can be used late at night. That way, clerks can buzz people in after deciding they’re not a risk. It’s not fool-proof, but it can eliminate some of the risk and it will do something else: It will force clerks to actually make eye contact with their customers. If there’s one thing I’ve noticed about our society, it’s that people don’t look at one another anymore. We’re so addicted to cell phones and making things happen quickly that we ignore the basic principle of eye contact to make decisions about one another.

Think about it: if you sense a crazy person is nearby, you will avert your gaze to avoid sending any message to that person. The eyes tell us so much about one another. Clerks could sharpen their people skills and size up customers better, too.

A person facing criminal charges in Orange County based upon these facts would be looking at serious state prison time. He would need a qualified Orange County criminal defense attorney to determine if all the robberies were committed by one person or just copycat crimes.

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Nothing signals the decline of a community like the presence of gang members and graffiti, or “tagging” on walls, signs, poles, etc. It is always tempting to do something to stop this destruction but a Santa Ana, California man found out the hard way that getting physically involved carries a price tag.

The man, whose name wasn’t released, was beaten and stabbed after yelling at some gang members who were tagging a wall. They came after him. They surrounded him, kicking, punching and stabbing him. He’s lucky to be alive.

Regrettably, this will send a message to the community not to intervene. Vandalism is a criminal charge usually filed as a misdemeanor. In aggravated cases the Orange County District Attorney will file felony charges. Typically, offenders are given fines and community service. Jail time is rarely meted out.

Criminal vandalism in Orange County has been on the rise in recent years. Various Orange County law enforcement agencies have tried to tackle this problem. But the solutions will always start with families. Raising children means paying attention. Sadly, the victim of this crime will likely keep his mouth shut the next time he sees taggers at work. While I condemn vandalism, not everyone charged with vandalism is a gang member and should be treated as an individual. A qualified Orange County criminal attorney can properly represent someone charged with vandalism.

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Three Orange County teenage robbers, looking to get high or cook methamphetamine, punched a Target security guard in the face in order to make their getaway in a stolen BMW. Cold medicine is frequently used in manufacturing methamphetamine. Due to increase drug abuse and drug related crimes, California state law requires proof of identity in order to purchase certain types of cold medicine in bulk. Thieves have taken to stealing boxes of them and rushing out of stores, hoping to evade capture.

Frequently, the district attorney will file manufacturing charges against people arrested in these circumstances. However, there are laws dealing with the “precursor” crimes, such as possessing materials used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, which carries a shorter jail term.

Unfortunately, these three suspects, if caught, will be prosecuted under a variety of offenses, including robbery, assault, battery, burglary and grand theft auto and could face upwards of ten years in state prison.

If any of them has a history drug addiction a qualified Orange County criminal defense attorney would determine if they were eligible for a rehabilitation program in lieu of state prison, with a suspended sentence.

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You wouldn’t believe it if you didn’t read it on CNN but New Zealand Olympic hopeful Logan Campbell decided the only way he could compete in taekwondo in 2012 was to open a brothel! It’s unclear if he has hired prostitutes yet. Officials are looking seriously at this since brothels routinely attract drug users and violence .

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The Los Angeles Times is reporting that U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested a man attempting to smuggle 24 pounds of marijuana ashore on a surfboard. Five packages of marijuana with an estimated street value of $74,400 were found inside a duffel bag the man threw into the water.

The suspect was spotted paddling off Imperial Beach, near the Mexican border. Agents went into the water to make the arrest. When agents ordered the surfer to come ashore, he threw a blue duffel bag into the water, the Border Patrol said. Agents went into the water to make the arrest.

The bag later washed ashore.

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Recently I wrote about Supermarket mogul George Torres trial. (See post here). I was suprised to see this story in The L.A. Times that reported that Torres was set free in his case after prosecutors failed to turn over recordings with possible exculpatory information regarding an informant who testified for the prosecution at trial. Tuesday, the Judge granted the Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss based on a constitutional violation—Torres claimed that he was unable to assert his constitutional right to confront his accusers when the government didn’t divulge that exculpatory information existed.

Torres still faces sentencing on lesser convictions but this ruling appears to significantly limit his exposure to prison time. Torres was facing murder and racketeering charges.

U.S. v. Brady is the Supreme Court case that controls this sort of prosecutorial misconduct. In Brady, the prosecution had withheld from a criminal defendant a confession by a co-defendant in his murder trial. The defendant challenged his conviction, arguing the prosecution jeopardized his Due Process rights. The Supreme Court found that withholding evidence violates due process “where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment” and as a result of the ruling, prosecutors are required to affirmatively notify defendants and their attorneys whenever a law enforcement official involved in their case have a record for knowingly lying in an official capacity.

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The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Kendall Craig Farris, who heads the Over the Wall Foundation in Marina del Rey, was arrested Thursday at a Starbucks after an undercover Redondo Beach officer was allegedly sold methamphetamine and ecstasy.

According to police reports, Farris, arrived at the coffeehouse in a taxi and an undercover officer gave him an envelope containing $480 in exchange for the methamphetamine and ecstasy. Farris was subsequently arrested.

This pills turned out to be fake, but Farris was arraigned Friday on charges of selling a substance that he alleged was drugs. He is being held on $106,500 bail.

Interestingly, Farris is the author of the book “Drugs, Kids and Crime: Surviving Our Drug Obsessed Culture.”

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The Los Angeles Times is reporting that an off-duty Gardena police officer was shot and killed a man with a knife who was trying to rob a diner in Bellflower last week.

According to the Los Angeles County sheriff’s office, a five-year vetern of the Gardena police department was eating at a Norm’s Restaurant when the robber came in. Apparently the officer tried to stop the robbery only to be charged at by the man. Fearing for his life, he shot and killed the man, who died at the scene.

After a dozen years in practice, and with over 100 trials and thousands of successful results, Orange County Criminal Defense Attorney William Weinberg understands what has to be done and how to succeed on behalf of clients charged with Orange County Crimes. Mr. Weinberg understands the complicated criminal court system and has a reputation among attorneys, prosecutors and judges as an attorney who aggressively and intelligently fights for his clients.

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