An arraignment in Van Nuys Courthouse
All the courts in San Fernando Valley now have special prosecutors who deal with all sex crime cases in that courthouse. The Van Nuys court is no different. They have a sex crime unit that deals with all sex-crime issues. So, the case comes in for arraignment, in usually Division 100, if it's a felony. Division 101 of the Van Nuys courthouse will be dealt with if it's a misdemeanor.
Once the case comes in there, the DA or the District Attorney or the City Attorney, who is handling most of the arraignment cases either in 101 or 100 of the Van Nuys courthouse, will call on one of the sex crime prosecutors.
Usually, the cases, especially the felony cases, are filed by specific sex crime prosecutors. Either they're the ones that handle the case, or the head sex crime prosecutor will assign a prosecutor to deal with a case, such as child pornography.
That's interesting because most of the criminal cases in San Fernando Valley go through a system like a business/corporation almost in the DA's office. Still, when it comes to sex crime cases, only one prosecutor will deal with the case. They'll deal with the case from the arraignment through the trial or disposition of the case.
So, what's unique about sex crime cases is that one prosecutor will deal with it. That could have good or bad implications. The dire implications are if they perceive the client in a wrong way, then the client will be in a position where that prosecutor will be dealing with it the whole time.
Under that circumstance, if we're trying to resolve the case and we have a situation where the prosecutor who has the case doesn't like the client or views the case as some evil sexual conduct, then we have the choice of either going to the head sex crime prosecutor and her office is across the way from the Van Nuys courthouse in the civil building, or we can go through the particular second-in-command for the District Attorney's office, or you could go to the head DA. He can make the final decision on your sex crime case.
So, there's a hierarchy of how sex crime cases are handled. Your criminal attorney has to know that hierarchy, know how to handle a sex crime case, and know the best defense in Van Nuys. Otherwise, you're not going to end up with the best result.
Reviewing Defenses for a Sex Crime
What I have you do from the beginning is we have you come in after all the discovery, paperwork, videos, phone conversations – whatever evidence the prosecutors have in the sex crime case. We talk about what the strategy is going to be moving forward.
In other words, what are we going to try to get? Is this case going to go to a jury trial? Are we trying to get a not guilty verdict before a jury? Or will this be a negotiated plea where we have to work with the DA's office or one of the judge's courts related to your sex crime case?
Once we decide how the sex crime case will be handled, then we can put the pieces in place as far as what we're going to do – the plan being executed – whether you're going to be getting character letters, information from your job and really what we're working on doing is putting together a mitigation package in your sex crime case.
This is to get your version of events across to the prosecutor because often, when the police investigate these cases, they're not taking your side of the story into account. It's a one-sided investigation geared and honed toward their theory of the matter, which is that if you committed a horrible sex crime, you guilty. They're going to try to get all the evidence they can to prove that you are guilty, including trying to get a statement from you and proof against you.
So, it's now time for the defense to work and get the evidence together that helps you in your sex crime case end up with the best result and get out of the criminal justice system as fast as possible.
This is why you have to let me put my twenty-five years of experience together for you so that you can get out of the criminal justice system as fast as possible, so your case is defended the right way, and so that we make the right moves and right decisions at the right time.
Sometimes your case needs to be fought. Sometimes we need to do the preliminary hearing in a felony sex crime case. We need to make sure that we attack the prosecution's case and bring out some of the mitigating points for you, and if you have a defense to the case, that's the best forum to get it out when we're asking questions cross-examination.
These questions are asked under penalty of perjury. We can bring out some of the evidence that helps you in our sex crime case to end up with the best result. Contact the Hedding Law Firm for help.
Related:
How Do Prosecutors Prove a Sexual Battery Case?
Best Defense of Sex Crime Cases in the San Fernando Valley
Use of Prior Incidents in Sex Crime Charges
How to Get a Not Guilty Verdict in an Attempted Rape Case?
