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  Defendants who are arrested and taken to jail are normally booked shortly upon arrival. Booking records provide information about the people who are brought to jail. Because booking creates an official arrest record, arrested suspects who can post bail immediately often can’t be released until after the booking process is complete. Even suspects who receive citations… Read More

Learn when the government can peak into your private property. The Fourth Amendment protects your home—including your yard—from warrantless searches in most instances. Your yard is considered “curtilage,” land that surrounds and is associated with a house and is worthy of privacy protection. (Courts determine where curtilage ends on a case-by-case basis.) But, as a… Read More

  Judges set bail based initially on a “bail schedule,” but they can raise or lower the amount, based on the circumstances of the case. Judges ordinarily set a bail amount at a suspect’s first court appearance after an arrest, which may be either a bail hearing or an arraignment. Judges normally adhere to standard… Read More

  by Lauren Baldwin, Contributing Author It is against the law to drive while your driver’s license has been suspended or revoked. In a few states, including Oregon and Vermont, driving on a revoked or suspended license is a traffic violation with the penalty limited to a fine. In most states, however, this offense is a crime,… Read More

There’s a lot at play when it comes to legal representation. Within the criminal justice jungle, a defense attorney serves as the defendant’s guide, protector, and confidant. (At least that’s how it’s supposed to be.) Defense attorneys are usually grouped in two camps: court-appointed attorneys paid by the government and private attorneys paid by the… Read More

By Mark Theoharis Children have different rights and obligations under the law than adults. The law recognizes that children, or juveniles, are still developing, and until they reach adult age they must comply with laws that are slightly different than those which apply to adults. One of the legal duties that the law imposes on a… Read More

Almost all courts confronted with the issue have decided that the First Amendment gives you the right to record an officer in public while he is performing his duties. But laws in some places prohibit people from recording officers surreptitiously (or secretly). Whether the conversation the officer is having is the kind of “private” oral… Read More

“Domestic violence” in this context has to do with the relationship between the defendant and victim, not the label on the misdemeanor. It’s a federal crime for someone convicted of a domestic violence offense to possess a firearm. In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that “domestic violence” in this context doesn’t necessarily involve “violence.”… Read More

Bay Area DUI Checkpoints (Halloween – 2015) With Halloween falling on the weekend this year, the large number of Halloween parties and other festivities offer plenty of opportunities for celebrants to get themselves into legal predicaments. Local law enforcement agencies will be out in force, utilizing sobriety checkpoints all over the bay area to deter… Read More

When there’s no public defender office, or the P.D. can’t take the case, the court will appoint a lawyer who is on the indigent “panel.” A “panel attorney” is a lawyer who signs-up with the court to handle indigent cases when the public defender’s office cannot represent the client. In some counties, where there is… Read More