Unlike many criminal defense attorneys in private practice, Mr. Kroger has never prosecuted or investigated anyone on behalf of a governmental entity. He has never worked to put anyone behind bars. Mr. Kroger has always been 100% defense-oriented, and he maintains a laser focus on checking the powers of the prosecution and law enforcement. This is the distinctive mindset that is needed for criminal defense work.
Many people get into a car after drinking with friends, confident that they have not consumed enough alcohol to adversely affect their blood alcohol concentration, such that they should not be driving. The legal limit is .08%. However, you can be arrested and convicted for driving under the influence even if you do not meet the legal limit. Under California Vehicle Code 23152(a), it is a misdemeanor to drive under the influence of an alcoholic beverage. The outcomes of DUI cases depend heavily on the specific facts, which is one reason why it is critical to hire an experienced criminal defense attorney in the Los Angeles area if you have been charged with drunk driving. We can look closely at your situation to determine whether there are procedural, constitutional, or substantive challenges that we can raise in your defense.
There are a wide range of drug crimes in California, including drug possession, possession for sale, distribution, manufacturing, and transportation. The types of drugs are divided into five different schedules that are punished differently. For example, Schedule I includes opiates, mescaline, and cocaine base, while Schedule III includes hallucinogens. The appropriate defense against a drug crime will be dictated by the situation. Defenses can include medical necessity, a lack of knowledge or intent, an illegal search and seizure, challenging lab results based on problems with the analysis, or showing that a doctor had issued a prescription for the drug.
Domestic violence is not a separate crime in California. Instead, if a crime qualifies as domestic violence, the penalties will be more serious. A crime qualifies as domestic violence if the victim and the defendant have a certain household or family relationship. Under California Penal Code section 273.5, spousal abuse can be charged if the defendant and the complainant are current or former spouses, current or former cohabitants, fiancés, currently or previously in a dating relationship, or co-parents of a child. Los Angeles criminal defense attorney William S. Kroger can help you fight to keep your record clean and avoid any collateral consequences of a domestic violence conviction. These may include a restraining order, restrictions on your gun rights, restrictions on child custody or visitation, and immigration consequences for non-citizens.
Some common theft crimes include embezzlement, forgery, identity theft, robbery, and receiving stolen property. Other types of theft can include misappropriating entrusted property, fraudulently obtaining credit, failing to return leased property, or illegally transferring a credit card. What must be proven depends on the specific theft crime being charged. Under California Penal Code section 211, for example, robbery occurs when somebody feloniously takes another person’s personal property from their person or immediate presence and against their will, through force or fear. Generally, the law classifies the severity of the crime according to the value of the property taken. The value of the property is measured by its reasonable and fair market value.
As of January 1, 2018, recreational marijuana is lawful in California. However, under California Health and Safety Code section 11357, you need to be 21 or older, and there are limits on your possession. You are allowed to possess only up to 28.5 grams of marijuana, eight grams of concentrated cannabis, or six plants at once. If you possess marijuana while intending to sell it without a license, you can be charged under Health and Safety Code section 11359. You can also be charged for selling without a license, selling to a minor, or driving with marijuana. A criminal defense lawyer in Los Angeles can help you fight any of these charges. Additionally, marijuana remains a Schedule I drug under federal law, and there can be job-related consequences if you test positive for marijuana, depending on your workplace policies.
Most parents want to protect their children from criminal prosecution, realizing that a mistake charged as a crime can haunt their children far into adulthood. There are some serious crimes for which a child who is at least age 14 can be tried in adult court, such as drug crimes, weapons crimes, rape, carjacking, murder, setting fire to a building with people inside it, and kidnapping. If they are tried in adult court, a juvenile can be sent to adult prison as part of their sentence. Juveniles who are 15 or younger need to be permitted to talk to a lawyer before talking to the police or waiving their Miranda rights. In a juvenile delinquency case, the court will evaluate how old the child is, the severity of the crime, and any prior criminal record. A child tried as a juvenile may be ordered to live with their parents under court supervision, placed on probation, sent to the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or sent to a probation ranch.
Weapons crimes are serious offenses in California. You should retain a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer if you have been charged with a crime such as possession of an assault weapon, illegal sale of a firearm, firing into an occupied building, carrying a concealed weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, or possession by a convicted felon. Although carrying a concealed weapon is usually a misdemeanor, it can be charged as a felony in some cases. These include when the weapon is not possessed lawfully, the defendant has a prior felony conviction, or the defendant is actively involved in a street gang. There are also certain circumstances under which possessing or carrying firearms is illegal, even though it would be lawful to possess or carry outside those circumstances.
Internet crimes include money laundering, revenge porn, child pornography, online identity theft, online solicitation of sex, online computer fraud, and cyberstalking. Under California Penal Code section 646.9, cyberstalking occurs when the defendant has harassed or threatened the victim so much that the victim fears for their safety, and the harassment or threats are communicated via text, email, telephone, fax, video message, or another device. Meanwhile, Penal Code section 647(j)(4) describes the crime of revenge porn. The prosecutor needs to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had an image of an intimate body part of an identifiable person or an image of that person having some form of sex, and the defendant intentionally distributed the image. Also, there must have been an understanding that the image would stay private, the defendant must have known or should have known that distributing the image would engender serious emotional distress, and the victim must have suffered serious emotional distress.
Consult an Experienced Criminal Defense Attorney in Los Angeles
William S. Kroger has defended people from prosecution since 1997. His entire career has been built around the exclusive goal of helping defendants accused of crimes in Southern California. Unlike prosecutors, criminal defense attorneys must be able to question everything and examine all of the angles of a case to figure out which aspects of the case require aggressive trial tactics and which aspects demand smart negotiation. Whereas prosecutors are handed investigations by well-funded police officers, criminal defense work requires cost-effective approaches. You can trust Mr. Kroger to work against the system to fight for you. William S. Kroger represents clients in state courts throughout Los Angeles County and elsewhere in Southern California. His federal court experience is all throughout the United States. Call us at 323-655-5700 or complete our online form.
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