Van Nuys Court Three-Strikes Cases
The California Three-Strikes Law was enacted in 1993, and the Van Nuys court has been prosecuting those cases ever since. At first, the head DA and the deputies had all the power regarding the three-strike rules and filing case strikes. Then, in the landmark Romero case, the power dynamics shifted, giving some of that power back to the judge and significantly influencing the application of the Three-Strikes Law.
So, now, as far as three-strike cases go, the first step is to negotiate with the prosecutors. This negotiation can be crucial in striking a strike, for example, or getting rid of a strike without making your client plead to the strike. If the prosecutors refuse to remove a prior strike and attempt to push for a second or a third-strike case, the next move is to approach the judge.
To initiate this process, you file a Romero motion, a legal document that presents your argument to the judge. In this motion, you try to convince the judge to strike the strike or strikes for purposes of the new case so your client does not feel the brunt of the California Three-Strikes Law. The judge will then review your client's prior criminal record to determine if he is a career offender who should be subject to the Three-Strikes Law.
The judge, as a neutral and impartial party, plays a crucial role in this process. They will also look at the strike or strikes you're trying to strike and see how serious they are, how long ago they were, and then the judge will look at the current case and assess its seriousness and the potential danger to the public. Our Los Angeles criminal defense lawyers will review this topic in more detail below.
Strike Must Be Ten Years Old
So, these three-strike cases are severe. It does take an Act of Congress to get the prosecutors to either get rid of a strike, strike a strike, or strike. Their policy is in Van Nuys courthouse that it has to be at least ten years old to hit a strike, and that's pretty much county-wide.
The District Attorney's policy is that the case has to be at least ten years old. Now, I've got cases that were less than ten years old, but of course, they're also going to look at the other factors—how serious is the strike? Sometimes, you have a juvenile strike—the person is sixteen or seventeen, and no weapon was used—that case would be ripe for getting struck by the prosecutors or judge.
Other times, you have cases where the client really shouldn't have pled to a strike, but they did because they wanted to get out of custody, so they took a probationary deal and took a strike on their record, and then here they are again committing another felony. So, that's a case that the prosecutors might consider striking or even a judge might consider.
When considering whether to strike a strike in the Van Nuys court, the decision-makers will closely examine the current case. They will assess the level of danger posed by the recent case, any injuries or harm caused, and the societal impact of the current case. These factors can significantly influence the decision.
Often, the current case is a ridiculous case where it really shouldn't be a second strike case because, in these second strike cases, the person is typically looking at thirty-two months in prison at 80% or 85%. The low term on a felony doubled to sixteen months times two, for thirty-two months. That would be a horrible sentence, especially if you didn't do that much.
I had a guy recently on a three-strikes case where the guy got a theft at Universal Studios of a pin, a $10.00 item, but because his strike was so bad, he had a kidnapping strike, which he served a bunch of prison time on. These guys were trying to make it a super strike and made it a second strike case for stealing a simple pin. Eventually, when we did the preliminary hearing, the judge saw how ridiculous it was and got rid of the strike, letting the client take a simple petty theft.
We got him credit for time served because they had jacked his bail up under the three-strike law. The arraignment judge racked his bail up to about $200,000.00, and he couldn't bail out.
Retain an Experienced Criminal Lawyer
So, it's going to take somebody who knows the system. When you're trying to strike a strike or get rid of a strike and not make a client plead to a strike, the Van Nuys prosecutors, for consistency's sake, keep that power in the hands of the most senior prosecutor.
So, either the head DA, second in command, or whoever is in command of the preliminary hearings at the time can decide whether to strike a strike. They're not going to let just any prosecutor do it because what ends up happening is defense attorneys saying – hey, you struck that strike, but why would you not strike this one – and they get themselves in a big problem. So, for consistency's sake, striking a strike is reserved for the senior prosecutor.
So, unless you're a local attorney like me who is in Van Nuys all the time fighting and battling cases, you are not going to know who to talk to, who has the power, and what to say to them to get them to strike the strike in your client's case.
So, come in and sit down—if your loved one is in trouble, let's talk about it. I'll visit them in the county jail. We'll go over their case. We'll talk about everything and see what we can do about getting him out of custody as soon as possible and dealing with this three-strike law related to a criminal case. Contact the Hedding Law Firm for help.
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