Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Proving that I am Innocent in Receiving Stolen Property charges...

Thanks for your posting, and I'm sorry to hear about your situation. As you mentioned, "intent" is an element in the crime you've been charged with, and you had to have "knowingly" received the property (the knowledge being that it was stolen) to be convicted.

Prosecutors try to make these types of cases before a jury based upon the circumstances of the event (circumstantial evidence), and the fact that you are not going to have witnesses aside from your friend, or did not have a pink slip, might hurt you, but you do have defenses.

This may sound like a biased opinion, considering the source, but I highly recommend you get an attorney to help you. You may imagine yourself walking into court and demanding they dismiss charges, but it's going to take negotation, motions, maybe a trial, to undo the filing of charges here.

Re: Proving that I am Innocent in Receiving Stolen Property charges...

I'm just going to suppliment the other answer. Don't panic. Work with the public defender you're assigned initially. With this kind of case I'm sure the D. A. knows he/she may have a problem proving intent. And your going to get a very tempting offer to get you to plea guilty to something. Hopefully you'll get a chance to take a lot of pictures of the vehicle. $250.00 for an old 'Z' isn't too far off. I sold one, that needed to be restored and was, for $350.00. The buyer's Dad worked in a body shop. When the case comes to trial, and if the D. A. is very busy. The case may be dismissed by the D.A.. So hang in there initially. Mean while go around, take pictures of cars of similary age and condition, and their price. Also find out what junk yards would have paid for the car. Older model cars, of a model that don't have a lot on the road, are not that desireable for junkers.