Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

RE: pc 417 (A) (2)

We had a 23 year old (nephew of prominent attorney, friend of DA and judge) threaten (Pointing fingers like a gun and saying that he is going to "fucking kick his teeth in....) at us over and over for 2 days. On the third day, he drove by our living room window and pulled up a shot gun and pointed it towards my husband. We have 3 different calls to the Sheriff's dept. We also have a third witness who observed the whole thing.

After 2 months of waiting for them to press charges, the DA finally decided to charge him with PC 417 (A) (2), and PC 422.

We were told in the beginning that his charges would be a felony since the two charges go hand in hand with the threats involved.

This guy was also caught providing alcohol to a minor and a violation of his probation from a previous DUI, in a completely different incident after the gun threat.

Since this guy has ties to the community, all of his charges have been kept out of the papers, and somehow seems to get off, no matter what he does.

We are the manager's of a Mobile Home Park, and this guy is the son of a registered tenant. The Park attorney has been in the process of evicting the family because of this situation, and has now dropped all eviction processes, after dealing with the guy's uncle attorney.

So now we sit, without any kind of restraining order against this guy because they have held things off.

My question is this...

Since these two charges go hand in hand, shouldn't he have been charged with a felony?

What options do we have at this point?

Is there a way to get the DA, and Judge to stop letting this guy get away with whatever he wants to?

What is the difference of a 422 felony and a 422 misdemeanor charge?

Thank you for your help in advance...

Debbie


Asked on 6/01/10, 8:23 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Anthony Roach Law Office of Anthony A. Roach

The decision of what charges to bring, and whether to charge an offense as a felony or a misdemeanor is in the discretion of the prosecutor, in this case the DA. In California, that is up to the DA, and to some extent the judge, but never to the victims. Penal Code section 422 is what is known as a "wobbler." Because the terms of the statute allow punishment in either the county jail, or prison it can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony. A felony conviction is more serious than a misdemeanor conviction. A felony conviction is punished by imprisonment in the state prison, for a term of more than one year, and involves a loss of the defendant's civil rights. If you are afraid of this person, I suggest getting a civil restraining order to prohibit harassment. An attorney in your area should be able to help you get this.

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Answered on 6/03/10, 10:45 am


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