The issue of when the police can and can’t conduct a search without a warrant has always been a sensitive issue. It’s also an important issue and one that should be explored with every single case that involves searches and evidence. The reason it’s so important...
Bail is a great part of the American judicial system. Paying bail means you don’t have to stay in jail while you wait for the legal system to handle your case, a process that takes an incredibly long time. Since you can spend this time...
Thanks to built-in cameras on smartphones, most of us have a camera at our disposal 24/7. We’re able to record everything. We use the phone camera for selfies, points of interest, and to record the actions of others. We’ve grown so accustomed to taking photos...
Finally! Halloween is here! Not only does that mean cooler weather, pumpkin spice coffee, and an excuse to snuggle up with a good book rather than going out, kids will tell you that it’s time for free candy. While kids love trick-or-treating, parents often have mixed feelings...
The first time the term “road rage” was officially used was during the 80s when a team of broadcasters decided the term perfectly summed up the cause of a highway shooting. Since that broadcast, road rage has become a regular part of our working vocabulary....
Unless you have the card owner’s permission, it’s illegal to use a credit or debit card that doesn’t belong to you. It doesn’t matter if you found the card lying in the middle of a parking lot, have the card that belongs to someone who...
There are many great reasons to live in California. There’s also one huge drawback. In exchange for easy access to beaches and year-round wonderful weather, you always have to be prepared for an earthquake. The good news is that most of the earthquakes California experiences are...
Social media has had a strange impact on many people. There is a sense of anonymity and protection associated with the internet that makes us feel comfortable saying things via social media that we would never dream of saying in a real-world situation. The good...
Most of us know that the police can’t simply walk into our homes and start searching it unless you’ve given them permission to do so, or if they’ve gone through the correct legal channels and acquired a warrant. The same is true when it comes to...
The best way to think about hit and run incidents in California is that they are illegal. Fleeing the scene of an accident only makes the situation worse.
A hit-and-run accident is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the term used to describe someone who hits something (car, dog, human, mailbox, etc.), and rather than waiting and making sure the accident is properly reported, they flee the scene. While it is sometimes plausible that they didn’t know about the accident in most cases, the fleeing driver knows exactly what they are doing.
California lawmakers have zero patience for hit and run drivers and have passed strict laws that lay out exactly what will happen to any driver who causes an accident and then flees.
Vehicle Code 20002 VC covers the issue of misdemeanor hit and run in California. Vehicle Code 20001 VC is all about felony hit-and-run accidents. When you read through the two-vehicle codes you’ll notice that only one thing distinguishes one from the other, and that thing is injuries. Misdemeanor hit and run accidents charges are brought against drivers that cause an accident that only involves property damage, but if someone was hurt or killed as a result of the incident, you’ll be charged with felony hit and run. Since you fled the scene, you won’t even know how serious the charges are until you’re either caught or somehow able to gain access to the incident report.
If you’re convicted of misdemeanor hit and run in California, your sentence can include spending six months in jail, being issued a fine of $1,000, and having to make restitution. You will also have 2 points added to your driving record plus face any tickets/charges/fines are connected to whatever dangerous driving habit is triggered the accident.
If you’re convicted of a felony hit and run in California, the VC states that:
California lawmakers believe that the common citizen should be as protected from the police as possible. The creation of search and seizure laws is one of the steps lawmakers have taken to make sure that your Fourth Amendment rights are protected. Not only are the...
California’s famous three strikes law was created in 1994 and received voter approval. The murder case of Polly Klaas and Kimber Reynolds was the catalyst for implementing the three-strikes law.
Kimber Reynold’s life was brutally ended in 1992 during an attempted mugging. One of the muggers pulled a gun, placed it against Kimber’s ear, and pulled the trigger before fleeing the scene. Kimber later passed away in the hospital.
A man by the name of Douglas Walker was arrested for his involvement in Kimber’s murder. Walker was able to avoid a life in prison sentence by striking a plea deal. It was quickly revealed that Walker had a history of committing violent felonies. Walker’s violent history prompted Kimber’s dad to start persuing and lobbying for the three-strike law.
In 1994, Polly Klaas was having a great time with friends at a slumber party when she was kidnapped. For two months, the police searched for answers. Polly’s body was eventually found in a shallow grave. She’d been strangled.
Richard Allen Davis was arrested and charged with both the kidnapping and the murder of Klaas. During his trial, it became obvious that Davis also had an extensive history of crime that included assault, attempted sexual assault and kidnapping, abduction, and armed robbery.
Kimber Reynold’s father includes Davis in his lobbying attempt for the three-strikes law. He quickly pointed out that had there been a three-strikes law in effect before the early 1990s, both Kimber and Polly would be alive.
When California’s residents voted on the three-strike law, they were told that if the law passed, it would keep murders, rapists, and others who had a history of violent felonies behind bars. While this has happened, it also turns out that many of the people who have had sentences impacted by the three-strike law aren’t guilty of violent crimes and are actually being forced to serve 25 years in prison for relatively minor offenses.
A common misconception people had with the three-strike law when it was originally enacted is that the person impacted by the law has been convicted of the same crime on three separate occasions but that’s not the case. In many situations, the individual has been convicted of three different crimes. An example of this would be someone who has a felony drug conviction, a felony grand theft conviction, and a felony bribery conviction.
In 2012 California residents decided that the three-strikes law had gone too far and they enacted the Three Strikes Reform Act (also called Proposition 36) which tweaked the original three-strikes act so that nonviolent felons didn’t have to spend the better part of their natural life behind bars.
When the Three-Strikes Reform Act was passed, more than 1,000 prisoners were released. The best news is that of these 1,000 freshly released prisoners, only two percent were later charged with a new felony crime.
The way that the three-strikes rule currently works is that anyone who is convicted for a grand total of three violent felonies sentence will be automatically extended. The extension is anywhere from 25 additional years to life in prison. It’s important to understand that the 25 years is added to the original sentence.
While most people are familiar with the three-strike rule, few realize that there is also a two-strike rule which automatically doubles the sentence of anyone who is convicted of a violent felony crime a second time.
The list of convictions impacted by the three strike law include: