Criminal Defense | Orange County Criminal Defense Blog - Part 4

If we take a moment to consider the extent of change that has happened in contemporary society – even over the past 50 years – it is staggering. Social norms as a whole have gone through rapid fundamental shifts, leaving even some of the most progressive parts of our society scratching their collective heads. Read the rest »

Los Angeles, CA — On Thursday, former Los Angeles County Undersheriff Paul Tanaka and former Captain William Carey surrendered themselves to the FBI after federal prosecutors unsealed an indictment charging them with obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and other crimes. The indictment follows a lengthy federal investigation into allegations of corruption and other misconduct in jails run by the LA County Sheriff’s Department.

According to the indictment, Tanaka and Carey, who both pleaded not guilty at their arraignment that afternoon, knowingly participated in a conspiracy to hide abusive behavior towards inmates in LA jails. Among the incidents detailed in the indictment is the defendants’ alleged involvement with the effort to keep an FBI informant from communicating with his handlers by shuffling him around the jail system and falsifying records. Both Tanaka and Carey have been charged with one count each of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. Prosecutors have also charged Carey with two counts of making false statements after he allegedly perjured himself during the trial of a number of lower-ranking sheriff’s deputies who were convicted last year.

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Newport Beach, CA — On Friday, Superior Court Judge Greg Jones postponed the sentencing hearing of Hasti Fakhrai-Bayrooti, but also revoked her bail and ordered her to return to jail until June 10th. Fakhrai-Bayrooti’s attorney, William Weinburg had requested the postponement because he had received a probation report about his client that very morning and needed time to review it.

Fakhrai-Bayrooti, an attorney from Rancho Santa Margarita, pleaded guilty to one felony count of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated on March 10th of this year and Jones had previously allowed her to remain free on bail until Friday’s sentencing hearing. However, when he ordered the defendant to jail, Jones expressed frustration with the delay, saying that if he did not grant it, it would merely give the defense grounds to appeal his sentence.

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Santa Clarita, CA — On Tuesday it was announced that three people had been arrested in Santa Clarita after allegedly setting up a phony police department for unknown ends. According to the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department Tonette Hayes, 59, David Henry, 46, and Brandon Kiel, 31, were arrested, booked on suspicion of multiple counts of impersonating a police officer, and released on bail on April 30th. Kiel, who was placed on administrative leave from his job with the state Department of Justice, was also charged with misusing a government id, and Henry has been charged with perjury and will appear in court on May 21.

Hayes, Henry, and Kiel first fell under suspicion in February, when they visited the Santa Clarita sheriff’s station. They told Capt. Roosevelt Johnson that they were with the Mason Fraternal Police Department and that they were planning to begin law enforcement operations in the city. The MFPD had also sent out letters to other local law enforcement stations and departments and even have a website which claims their organization is descended from the Knights Templar and identifying David Henry as the Absolute Sovereign Grandmaster. The website also says that the MFPD has jurisdiction in over 30 states and Mexico.

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Rialto, CA — There are a number of aggravating and mitigating factors that can affect sentencing in a criminal case. California is one of many states which allows sentencing enhancements for hate crimes, in which violence is motivated by personal prejudice.

Prosecutors in San Bernardino County filed a charge of attempted murder with enhancements for hate crimes against Jeremiah Ajani Bell, 22. Bell, a resident of Fontana, was arrested on suspicion of severely beating a man with a baseball bat on Monday afternoon. Around 2:30 pm, surveillance video shows Bell carrying an aluminum baseball bat in Rialto, then later running away without it. According to witnesses, Bell walked up to the victim, Armando Barron, 54, and began attacking him without saying anything. Bell was arrested at his apartment later that day when officers conducting an unrelated investigation realized that he matched the description of the attacker.

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Santa Ana, CA — On Friday, Superior Court Judge Robert R. Fitzgerald decided to allow the trial of Isidro Garcia, 41, on charges of kidnapping and raping an underage girl whom he later married and lived with for several years.

The victim was 15 years old in 2004, at which time her mother was dating Garcia. They had just moved to Santa Ana from Mexico, and she accuses Garcia of fondling her and having sex with her against her will at the time when he was still dating her mother. After the victim had a fight with her mother, she says that Garcia gave her pills that caused her to lose consciousness and when she woke up she was locked in a garage in Compton.

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Costa Mesa, CA — Resisting arrest can often lead to additional charges being filed against a suspect. This is particularly true if officers perceive that the suspect is trying to take their weapon. Police say that’s what happened when a Costa Mesa man was arrested this weekend.

Dana Winfred Lofland was arrested while apparently high on drugs on Saturday night. According to the Costa Mesa Police Department, they received reports reports that Lofland, 50, was running into traffic and flailing his arms. When officers were sent to investigate, Lofland ran inside of a Circle K convenience store on Harbor Boulevard. Police say that while they attempted to talk to Lofland the clerk demanded that he leave.

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Los Angeles, CA — The Los Angeles Police Department is searching for a suspect in a shooting that put an 8-year-old boy in the hospital on Sunday night. That evening, in the Del Rey neighborhood of Los Angeles, an intruder entered the family home and fired a gun at the boy's father. One of the shots struck the boy in the head and he was listed in critical but stable condition as of Monday morning.

According to the boy's father, he was expecting his 20-year-old son to come home, and so he did not initially find it suspicious when the front door opened around midnight. When the father left his son's room he found someone he did not recognize. When confronted, the intruder fired multiple shots at the boy's father. It is believed that one of these shots struck the boy. Nobody else in the home was injured. Witnesses say that they saw a white vehicle driving away around the time the gunman fled the scene.

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Seal Beach, CA — Making false claims or other misrepresentations in a business transaction can lead to fraud and theft charges being filed against you. Although these charges may not carry the harsh penalties associated with more violent crimes, a criminal record can negatively impact your ability to earn a livelihood in the future.

A Compton man with a lengthy criminal record was arrested in a sting operation in Seal Beach on Thursday. According to a Seal Beach Police Department spokesman, a local business indicated that Earl Howard, 59, wanted to place a suspicious ad. Howard allegedly wanted to advertise a $29,000 diamond for sale at $9,500. Officers posing as interested buyers determined that the diamond was not authentic and arrested Howard on suspicion of attempted grand theft, theft by false pretenses, and commercial burglary.

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Orange County, CA — No one has been executed in California since 2006. Although the death penalty remains on the books and convicted criminals are still condemned to die, the question of whether execution violates the Constitution’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment is still debated in our courts. At the local level, the question of whether or not those accused of the most horrific crimes should face the possibility of execution plays out in courtrooms statewide.

On Thursday, Judge Thomas Goethals of the Orange County Superior Court ruled that the death penalty will remain in place as a possible punishment for Scott Dekraai, who pleaded guilty to eight counts of first degree murder in May of last year. In 2011, Dekraai went on a shooting spree in Seal Beach, beginning at the salon where his ex-wife was employed.

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