Rizio and Nelson California Law Blog

Lewd/Lascivious Conduct

While the crime of lewd and/or lascivious conduct is classified as a misdemeanor and is subsequently a somewhat minor charge, a conviction still generally results in a criminal record and the possibility of lifelong registration as a sex offender. For this reason, like all sex crime charges, it must be taken extremely seriously. Prosecutors will generally argue that the accused person committed certain...

PVDMI

With the focus of reducing California’s recidivism rate, and the mandate that the prison population be reduced, a risk assessment system is used to determine if a criminal should be released on parole, or be returned to prison. It’s called the Parole Violation Decision Making Instrument, or PVDMI. According to an article in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)...

Firearm Microstamping vs. Electronic Reporting of Firearms

There are two gun control measures on California’s DOJ Bureau of Firearms website that are worthy of discussion: Electronic Reporting of Firearms, which goes into effect July 1, 2010 Firearm Microstamping, supposed to be in effect this year but is still in the proposal stages, according to the webpage Let’s look at the first regulation, the electronic reporting of firearms. Basically,...

California’s Early Prison Release

Effective Monday, January 25, 2010, the new law providing early release for non-violent criminals will allow approximately 6,500 inmates to be set free. Under the new law, which was signed into effect last fall, only those prisoners who have completed educational and vocational programs, and who have been selected as not likely to commit another crime, will be released. The Federal Court had ordered...

Probable Cause vs. Burden of Proof

In a criminal trial, the two main hearings before a judge and/or jury are the preliminary hearing and the trial. In the preliminary hearing, the prosecution must convince the judge that there is enough evidence against the defendant in order to bring them to trial for the crime that they have been accused of. This type of hearing is much less strict in that it is not bound to the rules of evidence....

Marijuana In The News

When we think about marijuana’s negative connotations, we envision prison cells for drug use, selling marijuana, growing the drug, and maybe even selling or forging prescriptions for it. There rarely come visions of wildfire when we mention the phrase “marijuana problems,” but this can actually be a major concern in the state of California. Case in point: Just this year people have...

Grand Theft Auto in Decline in CA

According to Reuters, September 24, 2009, the rate of auto theft incidences in California is decreasing. This is great news for the victims who have gone through the inconvenience and expense of having their car stolen. One of the programs that has been developed to combat auto theft is VIN etching. The VIN, Vehicle Identification Number, which every automobile manufactured has, is unique for every...

Arson In California

Arson is very serious Arson is a very serious crime, and can even carry the death penalty in the state of California under certain circumstances. These include, but are not limited to: When the arson causes death to one or more individuals, including emergency personnel Under California’s Three Strikes Law, when there are mitigating factors such as malice aforethought In June of this year,...

Violent Crimes

There are three major types of violent crimes in California: Homicide, Robbery, and Assault. Homicide is, of course, murder of another human being. First or Second degree murder convictions result in life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Robbery is theft combined with physical force. Assault is when one person threatens to harm or does physical harm to another person. Depending on the...