Rizio and Nelson California Law Blog

California Felony Expungement

An expungement is done to allow you to fill out a job application and say honestly that you have no convictions.  In California, the process to get a felony expunged is a civil matter. Some felonies are not eligible to be expunged from the record.  Most of these are sexual crimes and cannot be expunged from a criminal record.  The specific ones are: – Engagement in Three or More Sexual Acts...

Second-degree Murder Laws

Murder is the unlawful killing of a person or fetus with malice planned beforehand. Murder is classified either as first- or second-degree. In order to be classified as murder, the victim must die within a year of the crime causing his or her death. The definition of murder is found in Penal Code Section 187. Second-degree murder is similar to first-degree murder except that premeditation does not...

Vehicular Manslaughter

Vehicular manslaughter is defined as the causing of another person’s death due to illegal driving of a vehicle. An example of vehicular manslaughter may include reckless driving situations, resulting in the death of a passenger. In these cases, the driver would then be charged with vehicular manslaughter. Vehicular manslaughter is operating a vehicle in the commission of an unlawful act not amounting...

How can someone be convicted of Prescription Fraud?

The California criminal jury instructions (CALJIC) outlines the elements required to convict a person for prescription forgery. CALJIC 12.05 states that: “In order to prove this crime, each of the following elements must be proved: 1. A person forged/altered/issued/uttered a form for the prescription of drugs; and 2. As forged/altered issued/uttered the prescription was for [a narcotic drug]. Alternatively, 1....

What is prescription forging?

Prescription forging is against the law. By definition, it is the illegal acquisition of pharmaceuticals for personal use or profit. Prescription fraud is committed in many ways, including but not limited to visiting multiple doctors to receive multiple prescriptions, and forging the prescription to increase the quantity. The biggest factor driving prescription fraud is increased abuse and addiction...

About Prescription Drug Abuse

Approximately 20% of Americans (according to The National Institute on Drug Abuse report) have used prescription drugs for non-medical purposes at some point in their lives. With the increased availability of prescription drugs over the internet, and the surprising increase in senior citizen trafficking of prescription drugs, combined with the high incidence of overdoses by users of illegally obtained...