Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: prop 36

Sounds to me like the DA couldn't get the case filed in time, which happens often for many, varied reasons. Once a person is held for 48 (not 72) court hours without charges being filed, they must be released. So procedurally, they did what they had to do by releasing her. However, now the DA can review the paperwork and file the charges at any time in the near future, and notify your friend to come to court. Or, they could arrest her again. Or, they could issue a warrant for her arrest and wait until she gets stopped by a cop for any reason, and then she can be arrested. The better procedure would be for a criminal lawyer to make some immediate inquiries into what the DA has planned, and that way your friend doesn't have to walk on eggshells for the rest of her life. By the way, the fact that her friend "took the rap" will probably not have any effect on whether or not the DA will file the charges against your friend. That may come into play later on, however. As to the question about her son, I need to know more information about the situation before I can answer that, but there should be a dependency court proceeding in the very near future regarding what happens to the child. Child Protective Services will get involved, and an investigation will start very quickly. Your friend should know all this and more in order to decide how to proceed. I recommend that she talks to a criminal lawyer at once. If she'd like to call me, I would be happy to meet with her for a free consultation. Have her call me at 310 393 0639. Steve Mandell

Re: prop 36

Not likely to be dismissed. It is only a delay in the DA getting the filing ready for court. She will either be re-arrested, or they may send her a letter ordering her to appear in court on a date certain. She should contact Child Services to find out their intentions on getting the child returned or procedings filed to remove custody from her. Depending on what they do, she will have to fight that as well as the criminal charges. If she is interested in hiring counsel to help her in this, contact me.