Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Reduce a gun charge

Reduce the charges to what? The guy wasn't going to skate. The sentence appears to be commensurate with the crime (there is an automatic 10 year enhancement for bringing the gun).

I assume someone hired a private lawyer for him and didn't just leave him to the public defender, but, in the final analysis, the guy made his own bad decisions. If the evidence to convict him was there, I'm not sure there's a lot that could have been done differently.

Re: Reduce a gun charge

No. Any issues should have been handled in plea bargaining. He doesn't get to wait til it's over and then complain about the bargain he made. Tell him not to get into trouble in jail, so he'll get max good time credits. He certainly made a mistake, but 'good' people don't take guns to rob others. He may become 'good' if he turns his life and attitudes around to the point he lives within the law. As his friend, stay in contact with him and encourage that.

Re: Reduce a gun charge

I generally agree with Mr. Stone. I want to add that one reason your friend has few options available to him is that he accepted a deal. He can argue that he was not properly informed of the terms of his deal or of the rights he was waiving, or that he was sentenced outside the range he agreed to, or that the court previously denied a motion to exclude evidence which it should have granted. Other than that, there aren't many ways to complain about a deal he made willingly.