Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

A friend of mine is in jail (placer county) for stalking his ex wife and her new husband. ( he previously served 4 years in prison for same offense). Anyway, to make a very long story short. I went to visit him at the jail.He said he heard that I had been questioned by the police in his case. I said "yea, they just wanted to know about soime e-mail that was sent to your ex wife"( Which they acutally wanted to know more than that)He asked me to go to his apartment and get some of his property and said to go through a window because his house keys were inside the apartment. I did so and the police arrived and I told them to call the jail and verify i had permission. He told them I did not have permission and wanted to press charges. I spent 5 days in jail (sacramento county)on first degree burglery charges and had to hire an attorney. Yesterday my attorney obtained the recorded jail conversation and called me and said that I will be aquitted at my next court date and they (Sac county) will file charges against him for giving false information to police in an investigation and filing false charges. The reason he lied to have me arrested is because he knows that he asked me to get him a gun ( i refused) and told me of his plans to kill his ex wife and her husband and plant cigarette butts with someone elses DNA at the crrime scene. He knows if i was to testify I could put him away for life. So he had me arrested for burglerizing his house knowing that if i was convicted of a crime against him the D,A would either not have me testify or if I did testify, a jury wouldnt believe me. My 2 questions are ( is this a crime of obstruction of justice? ) and (can i sue him for attorneys fees and the hell he put me through?) I know he just received a 100,000 dollar loan on a home he owns and he has money right now


Asked on 8/29/09, 6:44 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Robert Marshall Law Office of Robert L, Marshall

You already have a lawyer, so ask him. You still have a pending case and should not be posting so many details on LawGuru, which is a public forum accessible to both the police and prosecution.

(I recall that you previously posted to LawGuru or a similar site, and I warned you against posting too much information then.)

You should also talk with your attorney about revealing the information about planting evidence.

If you sue him, you will have to put a lot more information on the record, which could come back later to haunt you. Since the statute of limitations for a felony is three years, the DA could still charge you with new offenses, even if your current case is dismissed.

Based on the (excessive) information you have posted, I would tell you to walk away with the lessons you have learned: Don't be a flunky for somebody who is in jail, and they call guys who have served prison time "cons" for a reason.

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Answered on 8/29/09, 10:49 am
Brian Dinday Law Offices of Brian R. Dinday

I also remember your prior post and I concur with Mr. Marshall. One other thought. If before this arrest you had a clean record, you might want to petition for a factual innocence finding to seal and destroy your arrest record. Otherwise, even though you are acquitted or the charges dismissed (more likely in my view), you will still have a nasty first degree burglary ARREST haunting you all your life.

To learn more about factual innocence petitions and what they can do for you, you can go here:

http://lawyer-expungement.com/petition.htm

and here:

http://lawyer-expungement.com/results.htm

In any event, as far as suing this guy, cash is easy to move and hide. By the time you got a judgment against him, his cash would be in some Bahamian Bank, so don't bother.

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Answered on 8/29/09, 3:28 pm


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