Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: One persons word against another

Probably. All the police need in order to arrest you (or to charge you with a crime) is "probable cause," an "articulable suspicion" that you committed a crime. There are arguments to be made against the arrest or charging which can result in the dismissal of the case, including the lack of reliability of the "informant" as being insufficient for PC. But the "real world" answer is that they often charge the defendant with a crime, and let the burden fall on the defendant to argue that there are insufficient facts for PC. Any corroboration (any fact that might corroborate the other person's story that you actually stole the stuff) will result in a finding of PC sufficient to arrest and/or charge.

Conviction, however, will be a different story. A conviction will require proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Furthermore, a couple of cases resulted in the Aranda-Bruton rule that prohibits the introduction of a co-defendant's statement to inculpate you without more.

If you need further assistance, feel free to contact me at [email protected] or (800)515-0233. I wish you the best of luck.

Kindest regards,

JACQUELINE GOODMAN RUBIO

Attorney at Law