Legal Question in Business Law in California

You�ll learn the actual charge[s] filed against you when you appear for arraignment at your first court hearing. The charges determine how much �time� would be imposed if convicted. When charged with a felony, you potentially face one or more years in prison if convicted; on a misdemeanor, you potentially face up to 6-12 months in jail. "Grand Theft" usually carries 16 months in prison, on each count [individual incident of taking]. Multiple counts and charges multiply your problems. If you have priors and strikes, they are penalty �enhancements� under the 3 Strikes rules. If this constitutes a probation or parole violation, factor those new and old charge[s] in as well.

The honest answer is that no attorney can predict the outcome, nor even give an intelligent opinion, without reviewing and knowing all the charges, evidence, police reports, testimony, priors history, etc.

A little free advice: exercise the 5th Amendment right to SHUT UP and do NOT talk to anyone about the case except an attorney.

When arrested or charged with any crime, the proper questions are, can any evidence obtained in a test, search or confession be used against you, and can you be convicted, and what can you do? Raise all possible defenses with whatever admissible and credible witnesses, evidence, facts and sympathies are available for legal arguments, for evidence suppression or other motions, or at trial. You can hire an attorney, unless you know how to effectively represent yourself in court against a professional prosecutor intending to convict. He will try to get a dismissal, diversion, reduction or other decent outcome through plea bargain, or take it to trial if appropriate. If serious about hiring counsel to help in this, and if this is in SoCal courts, feel free to contact me.