Blog

What determines your punishments if you’re arrested and convicted of California Penal Code 311 PC child pornography in Los Angeles? This is a loaded question because it depends on who arrests you, and it also depends on who ends up prosecuting you. Child porn is illegal in California under Penal...

We are often asked by people how they can protect their record after getting charged with California Penal Code 647(b) solicitation of prostitution, which is engaging in sexual conduct in exchange for money or other compensation. It’s a crime both to commit prostitution and to solicit it. In other words...

California Penal Code 647(a) PC describes the sex crime of lewd conduct in public as the touching of genitals, buttocks, female breast, or someone else’s, to gratify sexual desires when you knew, or should have known; other people were present that might be offended by your behavior. This same law...

What is the best defense strategy if you or a loved one is charged with an internet sex-related crime? Since the advent of the internet, many sex-related offenses have existed in chat rooms and across the internet.  Police are all over the internet, picking things up and chatting with people.  They’re...

More and more in America, sex trafficking is a massive crime, and there is a lot of news media coverage.  Law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and judges take these cases very seriously. If you or a loved one is charged with sex trafficking, you want to get the best possible criminal defense attorney...

If you’re charged with a sex crime, what are the best strategies to avoid having to register as a sex offender? This is probably one of the biggest concerns next to prison that people charged with sex crimes have.  That is, having to register as a sex offender for either 10, 20, or life.  When you look at the...

California Penal Code 288.5 PC defines the serious sexual-related crime of continuous sexual abuse of a child as engaging in three or more acts of substantial sexual conduct with a child under 14 occurring over three months or more. The unlawful conduct has to come from somebody who either...

What factors affect your sentence length in a federal child pornography case? When the feds grab you and charge you with child pornography or come in and execute a search warrant, take all your devices to charge you with possession or distribution of child pornography, your whole world is upended...

What happens after law enforcement serves a search warrant on your home looking for child pornography? Usually, what I see happen is that the police and much time, it’s a multi-task force – sometimes Homeland Security, Secret Service – that’s the feds – and the other element is whoever the local...

This is a very commonly charged crime throughout California – Los Angeles, Orange County, San Bernardino, Riverside, and it often involves underage women. Of course, prosecutors are vicious regarding those types of offenses. California Penal Code 266h and 266i PC pimping and pandering are...

Many people don’t realize that being charged with Penal Code 243.4 PC sexual battery is a very serious crime and that you’re facing 10-year registration as a sex offender if you end up getting convicted of this crime.  Is there a way to avoid Penal Code 290 PC sex registration if you’ve been arrested...

California Penal Code 288 PC is the statute that makes it a crime to engage in any lewd or lascivious act with a minor under 14, described as indecent acts or of a sexual nature. PC 288 lewd and lascivious acts with a minor are often called child molestation. Lewd and lascivious conduct is described as...

The crime of rape is defined under California Penal Code 261 PC as non-consensual sexual intercourse using force, threats, or fraud. A felony rape conviction carries a sentence of up to 8 years in prison and a mandatory lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender. Rape does not always involve...

You don’t see it charged very often, but if someone gets accused of this and convicted, they will likely go to prison.  They’ll have to register as a sex offender for the rest of their lives, and they will have some dire consequences. If you or a loved one is charged with this Penal Code Section 289(a)(1)... 

We have been asked if it helps in a California Penal Code 261.5 PC statutory rape case where the alleged victim consented to have sex. You must realize that if you or a loved one is charged with statutory rape, an underage girl cannot consent to sex as the law looks at it. In other words, they’re too...

California Penal Code 647(j)(4) PC makes it a crime to post sexually explicit images or videos of somebody online without consent, which causes them to suffer severe emotional distress. This sexual-related crime usually occurs in a situation where the sexual images or videos were initially consensual...

I’ve been handling sex crimes, specifically California Penal Code 261 PC rape cases, for over 30 years. One of the ideas you should consider if you’re trying to defend yourself or negotiate a plea bargain is looking at precisely what happened. You want first to lay out your defense and then look and see...

This happens a lot in Los Angeles, California, when people go out and drink.  Many of these dates are first dates set up on the internet, and they end up having sex with the other person. Then, somehow, that person, the next day, decides that they were taken advantage of, and now you’re being accused...

I am seeing a lot of cases now where people are interacting with minors on the internet and then transferring that interaction to their cell phones and various other devices to be used to communicate.  If you’re communicating with somebody underage in any sexual manner, where you’re sending...

We are often asked about what someone can do if someone is making claims online that you sexually assaulted or raped them? This is a more and more common problem when it comes to sex crimes, and that is, people on the internet who have all these options are putting things on there claiming...

California Penal Code 243.4 sexual battery is a serious crime. If you’re convicted of the more severe forms of sexual battery, you will have to register as a sex offender. If, on the other hand, you’re convicted of something other than sexual battery – depending on what that is – you may be able to avoid...

Warrants, as they relate to California sex crimes, can be dangerous.  For example, in Los Angeles County, where I do a lot of business, the police come in with guns-a-blazing when it comes to warrants for sex crimes.  They come in in force. When they’re looking for people, they go into homes...

Unfortunately, when people are charged with sex crime cases in Los Angeles, bails get raised all the time, especially in severe sex crime cases involving multiple charges. Usually, the prosecutors cannot stack bail.  In other words, they can’t charge multiple charges and get bail on top of bail for each...

This is a common crime now with the internet, and many people are getting arrested.  A lot of people are going into custody and many people have to register as sex offenders because they send nude photographs to minors. Often, the defenses are that they believe that the minors are 18 years...

It’s a special prosecuting agency that deals with these sex crime cases in Los Angeles and across the country.  Many of the District Attorney’s offices have taken the position to assign specific prosecutors who all they do is deal with sex crimes. That would probably be the first reason you want a sex...