Los Angeles County Criminal Lawyer Blog

The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office has filed one count of battery on a sports official against a coach who allegedly struck a 17-year-old referee during a flag football game in Valencia.

According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Parks Bureau, the 34-year-old coach was upset by a call the official had made and walked onto the field while the game was in progress. There was an altercation and the coach allegedly slapped the teenager and the teen fell to the ground.

Continue reading "Castaic Man Charged with Assaulting a Referee" »

A 28-year-old Castaic man, who is also an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), has pleaded not guilty to charges that he committed lewd acts with two children.

Two girls under 10 years of age had reported that the LAPD officer had lured them into his home and then committed unspecified lewd acts. He was arrested at his home and was initially charged with only one count of lewd acts with a minor. A subsequent investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Special Victims Bureau revealed another alleged victim and the single charge was upped to two counts.

L.A. Sheriff's investigators say they have no reason to believe there are any more alleged victims

The suspect is a six-year veteran of the force and was stationed at LAPD's Foothill Station. Initially, his bail was set at $100,000, but it was doubled to $200,000 after his not guilty plea. He remains in prison.

Continue reading "LAPD Officer Pleads Not Guilty to Child Molestation Charges" »

Two Canyon Country residents accused of participating in a street race that led to the death of a passenger in one of the vehicles involved have pleaded not guilty to a number of charges handed down in a grand jury indictment.

During the alleged street race, one of the participants reportedly slammed his Mustang into a tree on Sand Road. A 19-year-old passenger in that vehicle was killed. Along with a litany of California Vehicle Code charges lodged against them, the pair also faces gross vehicular manslaughter charges.

The man believed to have been the driver of the car in which the passenger was killed was charged with gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

The indictment alleges that the two men were racing at speeds in excess of 100 mph, were making dangerous lane changes, and had been driving on the wrong side of the roadway. They were also charged with reckless driving, participating in a speed contest causing injuries, and driving at an unsafe speed.

The man who allegedly drove the car in which the passenger died saw his bail go up from $1 million to $2.23 million. The other driver, who had lesser bond, has been out on bail since the accident.

Continue reading "Two Men Charged with Gross Vehicular Manslaughter in Street Racing Death" »

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriffs have arrested a man accused of killing his father in a domestic dispute that turned deadly.

The suspect, a 31-year-old man, allegedly was intoxicated when he came to his parents' home in Canyon Country. For reasons that are still not clear, an argument ensued. Sometime during the domestic dispute, the suspect allegedly brandished a gun and shot his father in the head. The father died at the hospital later.

Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff's deputies could not find the suspect after the shooting and asked the public to help find him. Deputies described him as a "person of interest" in the case. Two days after the shooting, information from someone led deputies to the suspect. He was arrested in Canyon Country.

According to SignalSCV.com, at the time of the shooting, the suspect was wanted for attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. However, the sheriff's department has not officially issued a statement changing the description of those charges.

Continue reading "Canyon Country Man Accused of Father's Murder" »

Five suspected Inglewood gang members have been arrested and accused of allegedly conducting a string of burglaries at cell phone stores throughout the southern California area. The burglaries reportedly were carried out at more than 30 stores and thousands of dollars of cell phones were stolen.

The purported ring has been accused of cutting holes into cell phone store roofs or breaking in through roof vents to gain access to the stores. Once the phones were stolen, they were allegedly shipped out of the country, sold, and activated.

A spokesman for the El Segundo Police Department said, "It's been going on for a long, long time. We think that's how they make a lot of their gang member money."

According to the Daily Breeze, all five of the suspects (four men and one woman) hail from Inglewood. A multi-agency task force worked together to conduct surveillance on the alleged burglars and was responsible for serving the warrants that led to the arrests of the suspects at several residences in Inglewood and Los Angeles.

All five were arrested on suspicion of burglary.

Continue reading "Alleged Cell Phone Burglary Ring Broken Up" »

The California Senate has approved a controversial bill that would permit prosecutors to file misdemeanor charges in cases of simple possession of heroin, cocaine, and other hard drugs. Currently, possession of heroin, cocaine, and other controlled substances is considered a felony in the state of California.

State Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) cited 13 other states that allow simple hard drug possession to be charged as a misdemeanor as his model for introducing the measure. "In these 13 other states we can document that there is higher participation in drug treatment. As a result there is lower drug use ... and less violent and property crime in these 13 other states."

Sen. Roderick Wright (D-Inglewood), who supported the measure, pointed out that current drug law disproportionally affects minority youths in his community.

Not surprisingly, several senators and the California Police Chiefs Assn. opposed the bill. Sen. Ted Gaines (R-Rocklin) said that Proposition 36 already allows those convicted of drug offenses to opt into treatment programs rather than serve jail time. According to The Los Angeles Times, Gaines suggested that instead of passing this bill, the answer is to build more jail and prison cells.

Continue reading "California Senate Supports Misdemeanor Charges for 'Hard Drug' Possession" »

The United States Supreme Court has ruled that in most circumstances, police may not draw blood from a DUI (driving under the influence) suspect unless a search warrant for probable cause is obtained. The Justices, concerned that giving authorities blanket discretion to draw blood without a warrant in DUI cases, is a violation of the 4th Amendment, voted 8-1 in favor of rejecting a request that the court establish a rule that would completely abolish the search warrant requirement in DUI cases.

In 1996, the court ruled that it was okay to get blood evidence without a warrant in cases where waiting for one might result in the dissipation of blood evidence before the warrant could be obtained.

In this case, the state of Missouri had asked the court to throw out all warrant requirements, arguing that there is always a danger that blood evidence will degrade.

While the court did not reverse the 1996 ruling, it disagreed with Missouri's contention and stated that police should be encouraged to seek a warrant when trying to obtain blood evidence in DUI cases. Justice Sonia Sotomayer, who wrote the leading opinion, stated that a majority of states already allow police officers to quickly obtain warrants electronically or by telephone or radio.

Continue reading "U.S. Supreme Court Weighs in on Warrantless DUI Blood Tests" »

An 18-year-old North Hills Valley High School student has been arrested after he was accused of dragging a 17-year-old girl into a school bathroom and attempting to rape her.

According to a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman, the accused "had come on to her during lunch, and she rebuffed him." The spokesman went on to say that the girl told the suspect that she had a boyfriend and she was not interested in him.

Allegedly, the boy later grabbed the girl by the arm as she was walking down a hallway and dragged her into a boy's bathroom, where he began kissing her and attempted to remove her clothes. Reportedly, the incident was cut short when another student knocked on the bathroom door. A teacher then confronted the boy and asked him why the two were in the boy's bathroom.

When the girl told the teacher what had happened, the police were called and the youth was arrested. LAPD reports that the girl was unharmed, but was lucky the incident was interrupted in time.

Continue reading "North Hills Valley High School Student Accused of Kidnapping & Attempted Rape" »

A 27-year-old man, currently in a Pasadena jail, is accused of attempting to carjack three vehicles near Holliston Avenue and Elizabeth Street in Pasadena.

A Pasadena Police spokesman told the Pasadena Star-News that the alleged carjacking attempts took place at about 5:30pm when the suspect flagged down three different vehicles and tried to steal the cars from the drivers.

"The suspect was yelling at victims to open the doors and give him their cars. The victims had their car doors locked, and when they became aware that they were being the victims of a crime, they sped away," the police spokesman stated.

After two unsuccessful attempts at carjacking vehicles from a 73-year-old woman and a 58-year-old woman, the suspect allegedly flagged down a third vehicle, which was being driven by a 48-year-old man. When the driver realized what was happening, he started to drive away, but the suspect jumped on to the car hood before rolling off into the street.

Continue reading "Man Arrested in Pasadena, Accused of Carjacking Three Vehicles" »

The criminal defense attorneys at the Law Offices of Daniel E. Kann have learned that prosecutors have charged a La Crescenta man with assault, battery, and attempted kidnapping after he allegedly tried to abduct two women in the San Fernando Valley.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, the suspect attempted to abduct two women: one in North Hollywood and another in Valley Village. The LAPD said both the women fought the man and managed to escape. They also indicated that they were looking for a third victim the suspect may have intended to abduct.

The 37 year-old-suspect was arrested in the La Crescenta-Montrose area while he was allegedly following another woman who was jogging on a side-street. The Los Angeles Daily News reports that investigators believe the man may have been involved in an attempted abduction in the past from a school in the Glendale/Burbank area.

He is currently being held on a $2.2 million bail.

Continue reading "Man Accused of Two Attempted Kidnappings in San Fernando Valley" »

The criminal defense attorneys at the Law Offices of Daniel E. Kann have learned that a Pasadena man is facing two misdemeanor charges after he allegedly lied to emergency dispatchers when he called 911 after his backpack was stolen. Authorities claim that he reported the backpack had been taken from him at gunpoint, when it had not, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Normally, this case would not be garnering much in the way of news coverage, but the Pasadena Police Department is contending that the false report led to the shooting death of an unarmed 19-year-old last year by Pasadena police officers who thought he was carrying a gun.

An internal review has determined that the officers acted "within department policy" in the shooting. Investigations by the FBI and Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review are ongoing.

The attorney for the 911 caller claims that the Pasadena Police Department is trying to deflect blame for the incident on to his client. The city attorney filed the charges after the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office refused to press manslaughter charges against the caller at the bequest of Pasadena Police.

Continue reading "Pasadena Man Called 911 and Could Face 18 Months in Prison" »

The L.A. grand theft defense attorneys at The Law Offices of Daniel E. Kann have learned that Torrance Police have claimed they cracked a nationwide "gypsy" theft ring accused of stealing millions of dollars of merchandise from Apple and other retail electronic goods stores.

Four suspects, two men and two women who are residents of Chicago, were arrested in Hawthorne after detectives identified the alleged suspects on surveillance video committing theft at a Mac Mall store in a South Bay shopping center. The ring has been accused of taking goods from Apple stores in Pasadena, Manhattan Beach, San Fernando Valley, and Orange County. They have also been accused of taking merchandise from southern California Best Buy, Costco, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart stores.

Investigators allege they also hit stores in Florida, Washington, and Florida.

Continue reading "Torrance Police Arrest Four Accused in Nationwide Theft Ring" »

Los Angeles County Sheriff investigators say they are going to seek a felony manslaughter charge against the son of the president of Pepperdine University stemming from the drug overdose death of a 25-year-old woman in April 2012.

According to The Los Angeles Times, the accused has had several previous felony convictions. He was recently sentenced to two years in prison for making criminal threats against his parents at their Malibu home on the Pepperdine campus.

The spokesman for the Sheriff's department told the Times that the man will be charged with involuntary manslaughter in Los Angeles in an incident in which a young woman apparently overdosed on heroin and was found dead on the garage floor of her parents home. Investigators say they have video surveillance of the accused and the woman leaving in a car together hours before her body was discovered at the family home.

The man allegedly left the woman incapacitated on the garage floor, didn't call for help, and took her car, which was discovered in Woodland Hills two weeks later. A detective investigating the case allegedly told the family that he felt that the accused was responsible, "if not directly for her incapacitation, then certainly for leaving her in an incapacitated condition when help could have easily been sought."

Continue reading "Son of Pepperdine University President Accused of Felony Involuntary Manslaughter" »

The criminal defense attorneys at The Law Office of Daniel E. Kann have discovered that a man suspected of two home invasion robberies was recently arrested at his East Los Angeles home.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reports that the man was wearing a mask and gloves when he allegedly broke into a home and held a woman at gunpoint while ransacking her residence. He reportedly stole money and jewelry, as well as the woman's purse and cellphone.

The 27-year-old man is also being accused of a second home invasion robbery in which he rang a residence's doorbell and forced his way into the home when a woman answered the door. He also held her at gunpoint and left with the victim's purse, cellphone, and some cash.

Continue reading "Home Invasion Robbery Suspect Arrested in East Los Angeles" »

Los Angeles County prosecutors have charged two additional people in connection with the fatal shooting of a church deacon outside of a Westlake church.

The two, a 24-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman, are scheduled to be arraigned on charges of attempted murder, vandalism, and murder.

Prosecutors allege that a 22-year-old woman was spray-painting the walls of the Principe de Paz church at about 6:30 p.m. on November 4, 2012, when the church deacon and several other parishioners confronted her. According to The Los Angeles Times, a 24-year-old man then got out of a waiting car and began shooting. The deacon was fatally shot during the melee and one other person was injured.

The alleged shooter then got back into the car and a 31-year-old woman who was behind the wheel helped him to escape.

The 22-year-old woman has already pleaded not guilty to the charges leveled against her. The three also face charges for allegedly being gang members.

Continue reading "Prosecutors Charge Two More in Killing of Westlake Church Deacon" »