Orange County Criminal Defense Blog

There is a good chance that if you watch the nightly news or check out the daily headlines that you’ve heard the term “sexual battery.” In fact, over the past year there have been a number of high profile cases related to sexual battery. From the ongoing Bill Cosby investigation to the recent Charlie Sheen scandal, there seems to be no shortage of sexual battery accusations. But, for many people, sexual battery equals rape, which is not always the case. This, of course, leaves us with the question – what exactly is sexual battery?  Read the rest »

The Law Office of Michael L. Guisti has been retained by Huong Thi Nguyen to defend her against criminal charges. On November 19, 2015, ABC7 news aired a story about a Santa Ana ride along where Ms. Nguyen was allegedly arrested by the Santa Ana Police Department for prostitution. As her legal counsel, we are shocked at the inaccuracies and outright fabrications in the ABC7 news report. It is ironic that an agency which shields itself behind the 1st Amendment would be so reckless and indifferent to the constitutional rights of someone who has been victimized in the human trafficking industry. This office will fight vigorously in Ms. Nguyen’s defense.

The ABC7 news report in question can be found here.

As the old saying goes, it wasn’t a matter of “if,” it was a matter of “when.” Officials at the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles recently installed face recognition software into their state database to combat identity theft and fraud.  Read the rest »

When most people hear the phrase “assault with a deadly weapon” on the news, they assume that a gun or a knife was involved. If you’ve been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, it’s safe to assume whatever you had in your hand could do some serious damage. Whether that item was a knife, a gun, or some other object, it all equals up to the same charge.  Read the rest »

Before cell phones, making prank or harassing phone calls required more effort. Now, it only takes a couple of quick taps on a phone and send a few offensive “emoji” symbols to harass someone. This is unfortunate, as many people charged with making obscene or annoying phone calls weren’t even aware they were committing a crime. Read the rest »

A lot of media conversation about the “new” economy has focused on rideshare programs like Uber and Lyft. But, an accident might put more of a spotlight on liability issues with another major player in the “sharing” economy: Airbnb. Late last year, a man in Texas died at an Airbnb rental when the tire swing he was on snapped a tree branch that landed on him. Read the rest »

It’s a term that we often hear on the nightly news: “The individual was arrested and charged with one count of false imprisonment.” While the idea sounds straightforward enough, it is a very complicated situation. For instance, in recent months there have been a number of reports of Arab princes taking up summer residence in Beverly Hills and engaging in all manner of bad behavior: speeding, reckless driving, disturbing the peace. But, the out of control rich bad boy behavior became very serious when a Saudi prince was arrested after a woman was found bloody and screaming trying to scale a fence surrounding his luxury property. As the LA Times reports, one of the charges the prince now faces is false imprisonment. Read the rest »

It’s probably safe to say that at some point or another, we have all taken something from our job. Nothing major of course. We’re not talking about full-fledged embezzlement or corporate espionage here. No, we’re talking about the items that are almost always tied to the phrase – “Who will notice it is missing?” Think along the lines of a stapler or a box of pens, maybe even a few bucks from the petty cash box located in the boss’s desk drawer. Naturally, there are those among us who wouldn’t even think about treading along that slippery slope, but many people – including your own co-workers, friends and family – are currently stealing from their employer. Read the rest »

It was the summer of 1989 an up-and-coming actress named Rebecca Schaeffer was in her West Hollywood apartment rehearsing lines for potentially the biggest role of her career: The Godfather 3. She’d only recently moved to Los Angeles, but was already making a name for herself. This new role would only boost her star power. Then, there was a knock at the door. Rebecca answered it and was greeted by a young man who introduced himself as Robert John Bardo. He enthusiastically showed her an autographed photo and letter her fan club had sent to him months earlier. After a brief conversation, the actress asked the young man to leave. And never return. Moments later Bardo did return. Except, when Rebecca answered the door this time she was greeted by the small caliber handgun Robert John Bardo shot her with at point blank range. Read the rest »

Along the East Coast the old saying goes, “There is a church and bar on every corner.” In California, you could certainly make the same comment about donut shops and massage parlors. It’s hard to go one block or one mile in Southern California without spotting one of the two businesses in a strip mall. Up until recently massage parlors have been primarily regulated on a state level – leaving local authorities to clean up whatever mess is left behind should the establishment take a less savory business trajectory. But a recent measure passed by state legislatures has put the power back in the hands of local law enforcement. Read the rest »