Reviewing Evidence in a PC 187 Murder Case
My first murder case was tried in the early 1990s in the Van Nuys criminal courthouse. Since then, I've tried many murder charges and feel I have a good sense of how a jury pool will review evidence in a murder case in the Van Nuys court, how the judges and prosecutors operate in this courthouse, and, in the last twenty-five years, I've done many murder cases in Van Nuys and other courthouses.
The bottom line is, when it comes to a murder case, under California Penal Code 187 PC, we need to know that the Van Nuys court system and the prosecutors and police are going to get the best people involved with checking into the murder case – whether DNA evidence, ballistic evidence, if there are videos involved – they're going to get the best technology and the best people to prosecute these murder cases when a life is lost in a murder case, that's when the authorities will use their highest and best assets to try to prove the case.
Unfortunately, often, what the prosecutors do is they're so intent because the case has been filed as murder in Van Nuys that they're going to try to prove the murder. Still, they don't consider other evidence that might exist – other things that might be able to be viewed, and that's where the criminal defense attorney has to come in.
I do my investigation. I use my years of experience. I use my team of experts at my disposal. Really what it is, is looking at the case. Looking at the facts and circumstances in the murder case and then deciding what experts are necessary what investigation is needed to bring about the best possible result.
Some of these cases will have to be tried in front of a jury when it comes to a murder charge. Then all the marbles are on the line, and you want to put forth the best defense to win the case because if you lose the case, typically, the client is looking at many, many years in prison.
So, you have to pull out all the stops, but we don't do the same thing in every murder case. We're going to do the things that make a difference. We're going to do something that makes sense as far as the murder charge goes.
I'm going to need to sit down with the client face-to-face and go over all of the facts and circumstances in the privacy of my office, or I will visit them in the county jail and talk to them about what happened, why they're being charged with this crime and what they have to add to the situation and the story because a lot of times in these murder cases, your version of events is not gotten out there.
The police do a one-sided investigation, don't get involved with all the facts of the case, leave things out of the police report, don't do an investigation that considers the defense's situation or the defense's position.
Develop Best Defense Strategy to Defend Murder Charges
So, that's up to the defense attorney to do the investigation, to take the time to sit down with the client, and when I'm done speaking with the client, we're going to have a game plan in place. We will know what the client needs to do to help their defense. We're going to know precisely what I'm going to do moving forward with a game plan to get this murder case in the Van Nuys court dealt with either by way of a not guilty plea/verdict by the jury, or we're going to work out some resolution with the prosecutors.
When it comes to murder, if we are going to do a plea bargain because they have evidence against the client, we're going to need to bring forth all the mitigating factors in a mitigation package that we give to the prosecutors, so they take into account all of the circumstances surrounding the alleged murder.
Often, we forget lesser charges like voluntary manslaughter or some other charge, again depending on the facts and circumstances surrounding the case. I encourage you to make the phone call today and call the Hedding Law Firm. We'll sit down, and we'll get this case moving in the right direction, and we'll get an expert. I've been doing this a long time, and I know how to handle these murder cases.
