What are the Penalties for Cocaine Possession in California

Jan 24, 2020

What is the Drug Policy of California?

California is one of the leaders in shifting from the criminalizing of drug use to treating it as a substance abuse problem in many situations. California has legalized adult use of marijuana and reduced the penalty for cocaine possession to a misdemeanor in some situations.

Penalties for selling cocaine are larger than those for mere cocaine possession in California. Looking at the drug schedule, we see that cocaine in California is a Schedule 2 drug on the California Uniform Controlled Substances Act and the California Health and Safety Code 11350 prohibits cocaine possession in California.

What is Cocaine Possession in California?

The penalty for cocaine possession in California depends on the type of possession you’re convicted of. When you were in control of the cocaine, such as drugs found in your pocket, purse, or body cavity, you are charged with actual possession.

• If you’re not in direct control of the drugs, such as cocaine found in your vehicle, locker, or home, it is constructive possession.
• If cocaine is found in a shared space and you were aware of its presence, it is joint possession.
• If your roommate has cocaine stored in a cabinet and you’re aware of it, that’s joint possession.

Is Cocaine Possession a Felony in California?

In 2014, California voters passed a ballot initiative, Proposition 47, that changed simple possession for personal use to a misdemeanor instead of a felony. The goal was to save money prosecuting and housing drug users in prison.

The monies saved are used to prevent future drug abuse by reducing truancy and dropouts and providing drug abuse treatment options, mental health support, and other programs that focus on prevention and recovery instead of punishment.

Possession with intent to sell by certain individuals or in certain locations continues to be a felony.

What is Simple Possession and its Penalties?

Simple cocaine possession in California is possession of a small amount of cocaine for personal use. Individuals charged with simple possession are often given a variety of options as far as the penalties.

An individual with no prior record may be offered drug rehabilitation in a drug diversion program and have the arrest removed from their record if they successfully complete the rehabilitation program.

Depending on the circumstances, individuals who plead guilty may be given probation instead of jail time. Even those who have prior records for drug possession may receive short jail terms as low as a month and not more than six months. If you have your case handled in drug court, it can help you avoid incarceration. Others may be sentenced to up to three years if they have prior convictions.

A drug crime attorney can skillfully navigate the situation in an effort to reduce your risk of a harsh sentence.
Individuals with felony convictions who have prior convictions for serious felonies or those required to register on California’s sex offender registry will face more serious penalties.

Which are the Penalties for Possession of Cocaine for Sale?

Actual possession can be a possession for personal use or possession with the intent to sell. If you’re charged with possession with the intent to sell, the penalties are much harsher. California would rather crackdown on suppliers than users.

The penalty for cocaine powder with the intent to sell can result in prison sentences of 2, 3, or 4 years. Crack cocaine convictions are a year longer. The sentence may be served by combining a year in jail with two or three years in prison.

If the person being convicted has priors, the prison time may increase by three years. Egregious actions such as selling in a school zone, selling cocaine to a minor, and selling large quantities will receive harsher penalties.

If you’re charged with possession with the intent to sell, you’re not entitled to attend drug rehabilitation instead of serving time. Probation might be an option, depending on the specifics of your case and your attorney’s ability to negotiate on your behalf.

Possession with the intent to sell includes possession with the intent to give away the drug. If you buy cocaine for your spouse or friend, you’re exposing yourself to the possibility of being charged with a more serious crime.

A conviction can result in jail or prison time and quite a few professional licensing boards, from insurance to medical, may deny you a license to engage in your occupation as the result of a conviction.

How Can I Defend Against a Cocaine Possession Charge?

Skilled defense attorneys can build a case leading to the best possible outcome based on the specific charges and facts surrounding the case. If a search was involved, challenging the lawfulness of the search is one way to approach the case.

Consult with a drug crime attorney so you’ll know your options.

Holiday Crime Prevention and Safety Tips

Dec 18, 2019

Crime increases significantly during the holiday season. Harried shoppers are easy targets when they focus on finishing their list and forget to be cautious. Homes filled with brand new electronics and other goodies also temp thieves.

General Holiday Safety and Crime Prevention Tips

If you will be away during the holidays, protect your home with these holiday safety tips. If you have a trusted friend or family member who can house sit while you’re away, so your home isn’t empty, it’s a good idea to ask them to stay. But be sure it is someone trustworthy because they’ll have unrestricted access to your home.

Holiday crime prevention is easier today because there are more ways than ever to protect your home while you are away. Several reasonably priced systems are available that record anyone who approaches the house and allows you to interact with them over your smartphone and a speaker system. If you respond when they come to the door, they won’t think your home is unoccupied unless you’ve advertised your trip on social.

Don’t post pictures from your trip until you return. Putting lights on timers that mimic your use when you are home is another good way to make your home seem occupied while you’re away.

Of course, putting a pile of presents under the tree isn’t a smart idea either. If you’ll be away, put wrapped packages away in storage bins or in an attic or basement storage space to make it harder for thieves to run off with your presents. Make arrangements to prevent mail, holiday flyers, packages, and newspapers from piling up and alerting people who are passing by that you’re away.

Safety Tips for Holiday Shopping

The best holiday safety tips for holiday crime prevention require you to think about crime prevention before you leave home and avoid risky situations.

• • Instead of carrying a purse or a wallet, wear a vest or jacket with pockets that zip and keep your credit card and ID in the zipped pocket.
    Only carry the cards and cash you expect to use. If you have a wireless credit card, a thief can pick your pocket without touching your card unless you protect the card.

• • If you have multiple RFID cards, stacking them together can confuse the scanner but encasing them in heavy-duty tin foil wrapped around cardstock provides added protection. You can also buy an RFID shield sleeve for your cards. Keep your card in the protector and only remove it when you are actually using it. Don’t lay your card on the table at a restaurant to signal to a waitress that you’re ready for your check.

• • Another holiday safety tip is that thieves can be friendly before they victimize you. Anyone who approaches you, especially if you are alone in a parking lot, may have criminal intentions.

• • Try to shop during daylight hours and bring a friend. There’s safety in numbers.

• • If you must shop after dark, be prepared and aware before you walk to your car. Have your keys in your hand as well as any safety gear. Be alert to your surroundings. Remember where you parked. There are Apps you can use that will help you remember where you left your car. You can also make a note on your cell phone to help you remember where you parked before you leave your car.

• • If you feel uncomfortable, don’t hesitate to ask mall security to walk you to your car. It’s not silly. It’s crime prevention.

• • If you make a trip to your car to drop off your purchases, relocate your car – even if finding a parking spot isn’t easy.

• • Don’t flash money or expensive jewelry. If you’re buying something at a store that screams expensive, like jewelry or a high-end electronics store, bring another bag to put the purchase into before you walk into the mall.

• • Don’t leave valuables in your car. If you must lock them in the trunk before you park.

• • Set up alerts when your credit or debit cards are used so you’ll know immediately if unauthorized access occurs.

What to Do If You’ve Become a Victim

Hopefully, you’ve prepared for this eventuality by making a list of your credit cards and the phone numbers to call to report the theft. Call as soon as you are safely able to do so.

If you come home to discover your home has been robbed, contact a burglary attorney in California who can help you deal with the aftermath. If you are wrongfully accused of theft, you need a criminal defense attorney for a free case evaluation and consultation.

We hope these holiday safety tips keep your holidays merry.

Does a Background Check Affect Your Credit Score?

Dec 11, 2019

What is a Credit Score?

A credit score is a numerical representation of your credit worthiness. There are three main credit reporting bureaus that calculate and report your credit score. Potential lenders, employers, landlords, and others who you authorized to obtain a credit check use your credit score to make decisions about whether to lend you money, rent an apartment to you, or offer you a job.

Your credit background check represents your borrowing and repayment history, debt to loan ratio, income, and net worth. The number of open accounts you have and their borrowing limits also play a role it also will determine whether you will be able to get an auto loan. Even if you have not used the available credit, lenders will factor in your ability to use open lines of credit.

How long you’ve had credit accounts, whether you pay on time or pay late, or miss payments affect your score. If you have a bankruptcy, lien, repossession, or eviction it will impact your score.
At its essence, the credit score from your credit background check is a shortcut used to determine your creditworthiness.

When Will You Get a Criminal Background Check?

A credit score and a criminal background check provide different information. Criminal background checks can be done without your permission by almost anyone who is interested except employers, potential employers, creditors or landlords, and insurance companies. Someone you’ve asked on a date can run a  background check on you if they have your name and date of birth.

When an employer or other party with restricted access wants to run a background check, they must obtain your permission and disclose to you how it will be used. A credit score and background check are different reports. An employer cannot discriminate against you by running your background if they don’t run background checks on other employees.

Some states have implemented “ban-the-box” laws that prohibit potential employers from asking if you’ve been committed of a crime on the application. These laws do not prohibit background checks after you have been interviewed.

If an employer or other restricted party makes an adverse decision based on your background check, they must advise you of what was in the report. Or if an insurance company orders an investigative background check, which is one where they interview neighbors and acquaintances to learn about you, your habits, and your character, you have a right to a description of the report.

If you attempt to get a job in financial services or other occupations where you are placed in a position of trust, expect that a background check will be done. Many companies run background checks on employees who would go into customers’ homes because they can be held liable for crimes employees commit when their job gave them access to homes, businesses, and occupants who were victimized.

Insurance companies are prohibited from hiring felons unless an exception is made, which sometimes requires the state’s Commissioner of Insurance to grant an exception. Some states with this law do not have a procedure for obtaining an exception.

Together, your credit and background check provide information that determines the types of opportunities you’ll be offered.
Your criminal history, education, and other information that relates to your behavior or character, including the results of pre-employment drug tests, can be included in a background check.

Criminal cases are public records. Unlike your credit report, you do not have an expectation of privacy. However, there are restrictions on how the information in your background check can be used by potential employers, current employers, and lenders.

Will Criminal Background Affect Your Credit Score?

While your incarceration will affect your credit score if you have bills you are unable to pay while you are in jail or prison, if you are able to pay your bills while you are incarcerated, the credit score will not hint at what they’d find in your background check. When you hire the best criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles has to offer, your chances of a criminal conviction decline.

What Are the Different Types of Warrants?

Oct 22, 2019

What Is A Warrant?

The word “warrant” has been around for more than 600 years. It is included in the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution where the requirement for probable cause is set forth to protect citizens from unwarranted searches and seizures. As early as the 14th Century, a warrant referred to being granted permission from a superior that gave the person executing the warrant protection from blame or responsibility for the authorized actions. This definition adequately describes what a warrant means today.

The various types of warrants are written documentation that a law enforcement officer has the authority to do something that is a protected act. For example, in the United States, random searches of our homes and bodies are not allowed without probable cause. Law enforcement officers can only act without a warrant when someone is caught in the act of committing a crime or when evidence of a crime is in full view.

Different Types of Warrants

Three types of warrants are issued in California including a search warrant, arrest warrant, and bench warrant. All types of warrants require probable cause before they can be issued. Probable cause is a reasonable belief that the circumstances are as they are being presented to the judge by the DA, law enforcement, or other officials who are requesting the warrant.

Different types of warrants are used based on what is being authorized. The purpose of having a judge sign off on different kinds of warrants is to insert someone who is neutral into the decision-making process and to ensure that the search or arrest is lawful.

If the warrant authorizes a search, it is generally executed quickly. If an arrest warrant is issued for a serious crime, law enforcement will actively search for the person.

What is a Search Warrant?

Law enforcement can’t search you, your car, your home, or your business without a warrant unless you grant permission, or the search is incidental to your arrest. Only two types of warrants put you at risk of immediate arrest although a search warrant can lead to an arrest, the outcome depends on what is found during the search.

A search warrant can be issued for a variety of reasons that involve looking for evidence of a crime including possession of child pornography, stolen property, property that was used while committing a felony, and property that is evidence of a crime, or of who committed the crime, including the weapon, getaway vehicle, mask or wig, and other evidence.

They may also search for a property that is intended to be used to commit a crime. Special rules apply to property held by special classes of people including clergy, psychotherapists, attorneys, doctors to protect confidentiality and privacy requirements applicable to those occupations.
The prosecutor’s office or law enforcement requests the search warrant, but a judge or judicial officer must issue it.

Even with a valid search warrant, there are some complexities to the law that a Los Angeles warrant attorney could use to have a search that violates the rules thrown out.

What Does an Arrest Warrant Mean?

An arrest warrant authorizes law enforcement to place you under arrest because you are suspected of committing a crime. A grand jury may have reviewed the evidence and decided there is probable cause to arrest you.

It is uncommon for the person to know an arrest warrant has been issued before they are arrested. When the arrest warrant is issued, law enforcement will look for you and arrest you when they find you, whether that is at home, work, or another place. If you have minor children in your custody and no other adults are present to take care of the children, your children will be taken to Child Protective Services.

If the crime is rather minor, a letter demanding you to appear at a certain date and time may be sent instead of using law enforcement resources to hunt you down and arrest you.

What Is a Bench Warrant?

Although being the subject of all types of warrants is not desirable, a bench warrant is the best of the bunch. Generally, bench warrants are issued when someone fails to pay parking fines or appears in traffic court, commits a misdemeanor, or misses a court date including when you are subpoenaed to testify.

Once arrested, bail will be set and if you can’t come up with the bail, you’ll be held in custody until your court date. Bench warrants can be issued in civil and criminal cases.

How an Attorney Can Help?

An attorney may be able to help you with all types of warrants. There are specific rules that must be followed when the warrant is issued and others that relate to how the warrant is executed. Flaws in any step of the process can cause the warrant to fail.

If the search is deemed unlawful, the fruits of the search including evidence of your guilt can be ruled inadmissible. If statements that led to the issuance of the warrant were false, the warrant can be questioned and potentially quashed.

If you are arrested or a search warrant is issued for your property, you should immediately contact an experienced attorney to assist you.