California Criminal Defense Blog

In Nevada, that is. Nevada is currently the only state where prostitution is legal…as long as it is confined to brothels located in specific counties within the state. Until recently, these brothels only hired women in accordance with the state’s health and safety laws that required licensed prostitutes to undergo frequent cervical testing to ensure they remain STD free.

Within a couple of weeks, one of the state’s legal brothels is hoping to hire a few men to service their clients. This is thanks to a new regulation that provides for urethral testing for men to ensure the same health standards for both sexes.

Continue reading "Introducing the First Legal Male Prostitutes" »

Decoy officers are frequently used to catch…or entrap…so-called on-line child “predators”. Cops, relying on the anonymity of the Internet, pose as young children (usually 13 years old) in an effort to arrest unsuspecting individuals for a variety of California sex crimes.

One crime in particular is Penal Code 288.2 PC “sending harmful matter to a minor with the intent of seducing that minor”. Penal Code 288.2 PC “sending harmful matter to a minor with the intent of seducing that minor” prohibits sending explicit or obscene matter to a minor with the intent of sexually arousing yourself or the minor and with the intent of engaging in sexual contact with the minor.

Officers will ask for nude photos of the people they are communicating with, engage in explicit e-mails, exchange erotic text messages, and/or have “phone sex” with people who otherwise may not even have engaged in such behavior.

If you are accused of sending harmful matter to a minor under Penal Code 288.2 PC, be sure to discuss a possible entrapment defense with your California sex crimes defense attorney.

While celebrity stalking seems all the rage, it actually only comprises a small fraction of all California stalking charges. In fact, most California stalking charges involve domestic violence…that is, instances of stalking that involve intimate partners. “Intimate partners” include those who are or were:

1. Married


2. Dating


3. Living together

Nonetheless, celebrity stalking is what grabs our attention...and is actually what drove the California Legislature to pass California’s anti-stalking laws in 1990. These laws were based on two very high-profile celebrity stalking cases involving actresses Theresa Saldana and Rebecca Schaeffer.

Continue reading "Celebrity Stalking" »

Many people don’t realize that California spousal rape is a crime. This misconception may be due to the fact that it didn’t used to be. In fact, California Penal Code 262 spousal rape is a fairly recent offense…it didn’t even become a law until 1979.

Throughout history, wives were looked upon as “property” owned by their husbands. As property, a wife didn’t have the “right” to refuse sex with her husband.

However, in the 1970s, lobbyists in the anti-rape movement argued that spouses shouldn’t be exempt from California rape laws. They believed…and convinced the California Legislature…that married women deserved the same protection from nonconsensual sex as unmarried women.

And even though California Penal Code 262 spousal rape is a separate offense from “traditional” rape, it is every bit as serious. It even carries the same maximum eight-year California State Prison sentence and a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender. Make no mistake about it…California marital rape is, in fact, a crime and will be aggressively prosecuted.

California self-defense laws allow people to use reasonable force (and even violence) to protect themselves against an attacker. The threat must be immediate and a person must use no more force than is reasonably necessary to thwart the attack.

But what if someone starts a fight? Can he claim self-defense as a legal defense against criminal charges?

For example, suppose Sam walks up and starts punching Robbie. Robbie starts punching back. Sam continues his attack, claiming now that he's defending himself. Can he do this?

Well, first of all, Sam's initial attack was clearly not self-defense...so for that he could get prosecuted for assault and battery at the least. But once Robbie starts fighting back, does the defense of self-defense kick in?

California law allows self-defense by an aggressor, but only if two conditions are met. First, Sam must actually and in good faith try to stop fighting. Second, he must communicate to Robbie that he wants to stop (or has stopped) fighting. If Sam does both of these and Robbie continues to fight, Sam can now fight back in lawful self-defense.

Continue reading "Can a Bully Claim Self-Defense?" »

Four New York assemblymen last week introduced legislation aimed at making it easier for convicted criminals to use DNA evidence to prove their innocence, according to an article in the New York Sun.

The proposed laws - eight in all - could also help solve crimes by increasing standards for evidence preservation. A request for proposals to update the New York Police Department’s evidence storage system was sent out late last year after the city’s police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, appointed a working group to review procedures.

The bills that he and his colleagues are introducing would make it easier for prisoners to get DNA tests after they’ve been convicted, as well as set up a state “Innocence Commission” that would investigate exonerations and make recommendations to prevent future wrongful incarcerations, the Sun article said.

“DNA can convict the guilty, but it's for protecting the innocent,” said Joseph Lentol, chairman of the Assembly’s Codes Committee. “By protecting the innocent, we give the public a sense of fairness and justices that exists in the system.”

Continue reading "New York Law Makers Aim To Ease Convicts’ Access To DNA Evidence" »