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It could have happened to anyone.  The weekend arrives and you decide to go out for a quiet beer with some friends.  What you don’t expect is to be accosted for refusing to give someone a sip of that hard-earned beverage.  Yet, this is exactly what happened in San Francisco Excelsior neighborhood this past weekend.  […]

When 24-year-old Yeiner Garizabaldo (known as Yeiner Perez to his friends) is the name of the naked acrobat who has been charged on at least two felony counts of false imprisonment (CA Penal Code §236), a misdemeanor count of sexual battery (CA Penal Code §243.4) , and four misdemeanor counts of battery on public transportation […]

25-year-old UC Berkeley graduate student, Jose Lumbreras, was speeding through a residential area near Allston Way and California Street when he crashed into a tree last year, killing his two passengers: Milanca Lopez (22) and her son (6-year-old Xavier Chavez).  At the scene, Lumbreras’s blood alcohol content was 0.219 and he had been driving at […]

Officials in the California system who have authored a bid for new rules on execution, including using a different method than most states in the U.S., have evidently not bothered to “do their homework” when it comes to state laws on the subject.  The need for a change in the system and methods of execution […]

Memorial Day weekend is a time for barbeques, spending time with family and friends, and taking time out of our busy schedules in order to remember those who have fought for our country.  The California Highway Patrol, however, looks at it as a time of increased arrests for DUI (CA Penal Code §23152), as numbers […]

In 1989, then 20-year-old Michael Pizarro became famous – for all the wrong reasons.  He was accused, and then convicted, of sexually assaulting and then murdering (CA Penal Code §187) his 13-year-old half-sister, Amber Barfield.  24 years later, no one can be sure whether or not Pizarro did it. On the one hand, there is […]

When 26-year-old Hazhir Kargaran went on a trip to Las Vegas with a few of his UC Berkeley law school pals, he may never have imagined it landing him in jail.  We’ve all seen movies like “The Hangover,” in which several friends get into strange situations while on vacation in the city that advertises itself […]

The United States Constitution protects citizens from unlawful search and seizure.  Part of what is known as the Bill of Rights, this amendment is meant to prevent law enforcement or government officials from fabricating evidence, planting evidence, or illegally obtaining evidence for later use against suspects in various crimes.  The 4th Amendment is also part […]

Armando Flores of Santa Rosa found himself in a bit of a pickle after a state appeals court upheld his conviction pursuant to CA Penal Code §399 (failure to control a “mischievous” pet by using “ordinary care”).  The original incident occurred in December of 2011, when Flores’s pit bull “Blue” somehow got loose from the […]

When Leila Fowler (8) was found stabbed to death in the kitchen of her family’s ranch style home, it was her brother (12) who seemed most upset.  Now, the young boy has been arrested in connection with the case pursuant to CA Penal Code §187(a), even though there seems to be little evidence to support […]