(no subject)
I have had a couple of interesting court cases this last week.
On Monday I was in court for the guy I arrested with a stolen car. This was not your average stolen car. The defendant (hereafter deft) used a bad check to buy the car late on a Saturday night. The used car lot didn't have a chance to check the checks and so didn't know that the deft did not have enough funds in the bank to cover the check. This is a felony offense. (Don't worry -- it is different from bouncing a check. This person used checks for thousands of dollars when he did not have any money in the bank). The car was put into the system as stolen and we came across it in Arleta.
It was funny when we stopped him because the car was stolen but it was in the name of the deft! The case is being handled by an interdepartmental agency that deals with stolen cars and car fraud. I got a hold of the detective who explained the situation to me and we booked the deft on 487(d)1 PC -- Grand Theft Auto (instead of the more common 10851 VC -- Joyriding section). In court he took a plea bargain: no contest to GTA and they dropped a commercial burglary charge. He got 3 years felony probation and had to pay $5600 restitution for loss of value on the car. The case was interesting because in your average g-ride case (stolen car) where a gangster goes out and punches the ignition of a 1993 Toyota Corolla, they will not get anywhere near as harsh a punishment. Contrary to popular belief, financial crimes are punished far more harshly than street crimes.
Wednesday I was in court for 11359 PC -- Possession for Sales of Marijuana. 11359 PC is different from 11360 PC -- Sales of Marijuana in that I did not actually see a transaction take place. However, based on evidence at hand I can prove that the person was selling the MJ, as in it wasn't for personal use. This case was interesting because (I unfortunately must admit) the report was poorly written. It was too vague (and we wrote it that way on purpose for other reasons), and the defense attorney made a movement to suppress the evidence because we had made an illegal search of the deft. I wrote about this case earlier when we arrested the guy, but basically, I was in a plain car and had pulled up next to 3 young men standing on the sidewalk. I could smell the marijuana from inside the car. When I got out of the car and revealed myself as a police officer, one of the three ran toward the house. I grabbed him. We searched his pockets, found the baggies of MJ that he was selling and he admitted to us that he was selling it for $5 a sack. The search was legal because the deft was under arrest for 148 PC -- Obstructing an Investigation / Resisting Arrest when he ran away from us when I had a legal reason to detain him. He was then searched incident to his arrest, the dope was recovered and he was re-arrested for the sales charge. I have not lost a case yet that I testified in but this was the closest I have come yet!
I am making an impromptu trip to SF this weekend to see friends and family which is nice. I took an extra day off work (Sunday). I really just need to relax a bit.
On Monday I was in court for the guy I arrested with a stolen car. This was not your average stolen car. The defendant (hereafter deft) used a bad check to buy the car late on a Saturday night. The used car lot didn't have a chance to check the checks and so didn't know that the deft did not have enough funds in the bank to cover the check. This is a felony offense. (Don't worry -- it is different from bouncing a check. This person used checks for thousands of dollars when he did not have any money in the bank). The car was put into the system as stolen and we came across it in Arleta.
It was funny when we stopped him because the car was stolen but it was in the name of the deft! The case is being handled by an interdepartmental agency that deals with stolen cars and car fraud. I got a hold of the detective who explained the situation to me and we booked the deft on 487(d)1 PC -- Grand Theft Auto (instead of the more common 10851 VC -- Joyriding section). In court he took a plea bargain: no contest to GTA and they dropped a commercial burglary charge. He got 3 years felony probation and had to pay $5600 restitution for loss of value on the car. The case was interesting because in your average g-ride case (stolen car) where a gangster goes out and punches the ignition of a 1993 Toyota Corolla, they will not get anywhere near as harsh a punishment. Contrary to popular belief, financial crimes are punished far more harshly than street crimes.
Wednesday I was in court for 11359 PC -- Possession for Sales of Marijuana. 11359 PC is different from 11360 PC -- Sales of Marijuana in that I did not actually see a transaction take place. However, based on evidence at hand I can prove that the person was selling the MJ, as in it wasn't for personal use. This case was interesting because (I unfortunately must admit) the report was poorly written. It was too vague (and we wrote it that way on purpose for other reasons), and the defense attorney made a movement to suppress the evidence because we had made an illegal search of the deft. I wrote about this case earlier when we arrested the guy, but basically, I was in a plain car and had pulled up next to 3 young men standing on the sidewalk. I could smell the marijuana from inside the car. When I got out of the car and revealed myself as a police officer, one of the three ran toward the house. I grabbed him. We searched his pockets, found the baggies of MJ that he was selling and he admitted to us that he was selling it for $5 a sack. The search was legal because the deft was under arrest for 148 PC -- Obstructing an Investigation / Resisting Arrest when he ran away from us when I had a legal reason to detain him. He was then searched incident to his arrest, the dope was recovered and he was re-arrested for the sales charge. I have not lost a case yet that I testified in but this was the closest I have come yet!
I am making an impromptu trip to SF this weekend to see friends and family which is nice. I took an extra day off work (Sunday). I really just need to relax a bit.