Fresno Criminal Lawyer Blog

Clients and potential clients often ask us about results. Because that is all they care about, understandably. It hardly matters to them how much work we put in if they don't get the results they were looking for. Of course, not every case is a tremendous success story, however, we do our best to make sure it was worth it for our clients to come to our office.

With that said, I'm pleased to report several phenomenal wins we've had for our clients in the last month. I won a complex DMV hearing involving multiple days of testimony from CHP officers and our accident reconstruction expert, which resulted in a successful win and overturning the suspension of my client's commercial trucking license due to a fatality accident. We also successfuly reduced a DUI with a .18 blood alcohol to a wet reckless driving after filing and appearing in court on a motion to suppress due to a questionable detention of my client's vehicle.

In addition, Robert Troncoso, an associate with the Law Offices of Michael E. Mitchell also successfully obtained two dismissals of DUI cases and had the records of a DUI arrest successfully sealed in a minor DUI case. Two weeks ago we also had a DUI successfully reduced a dry reckless driving, no DUI consequence, and a fine of $265.00; more over, the DUI suspension was reversed by the court.

Of course, these wins should not be taken as a prediction of future results, every case is different. But give us a call and I'd be happy to discuss your case and what we can do to help.

Its hard to imagine a more necessary element in the Fresno County judicial system than a court to help process cases for mentally ill offenders. Fresno's behavioral health court serves an important function in that the court deals with mentally ill criminal defendants who would often would not receive the services they need to fundamentally change their lives. It is all too common situation that Fresno criminal defense lawyers face- client's who are charged with criminal offenses, in large part, due to their mental infirmities. It is a tough situation. As a criminal attorney in Fresno, I often have clients who are not to the point that they mentally incompetent to stand trial, however, they have mental illnesses that contributed to the commission of the crime.

Instead of just shuffling people off to jail and the California Penal system, Fresno's behavioral health court aims at placing criminal defendants with mental health problems in drug programs and in other treatment programs to help them get a handle on the root cause of their issues. However, in this uncertain economic time, Fresno County hopes to slash costs by eliminating the court. This, however, will, in the long run, only result in increased costs for housing criminal defendants with mental illnesses in local jails and California prisons. The net effect will be that people who would not otherwise reoffend if they received the needed treatment, will come back time and time again on new charges. This will also result in more people becoming the victims of mentally ill offenders in the future.

According to a recent study conducted at the behest of California's high court, more than half of the offenders incarcerated are afflicted with some form of mental illness. Fresno's behavioral health court tackles this problem head on to give offenders the chance they need not to reoffend, but to re-establish their lives as productive citizens. This same report, generated at the behest of the California Supreme Court, states that mental health courts can help curb future offenses by mentally ill offenders. As outlined by the study, the reduction in future offenses may be as high as 45 percent.

As a Fresno criminal attorney, in my private practice I often deal with clients' who are suffering from mental illness. It is a shame that Fresno County is placing is being fiscally shortsighted. In the final analysis, the end of this court will only mean higher future costs for incarceration and prosecution of future crimes.

I was pretty surprised when Fresno County first started releasing inmates due to Federal overcrowding requirements. But now the situation has become the status quo. It makes one ponder when the early release situation will come to a close. In addition, the people released from the Fresno County jail are not always the ones accused of light weight offenses.

As a Fresno criminal defense attorney, who is in the courts on a regular basis, I often ask bailiffs, judges and district attorneys if they are seeing any unusual patterns in the early release situation. While the inmates who are released first are supposed to be the non-violent inmates, that is not always the case. The Federal mandate requires a bed for every inmate in custody and that means the person released, at any given time, may not be an inmate accused of a non-violent crime.

An example of this situation was the early release of Juan Navarro, a gang member who has a lengthy record who was released and then re-arrested on Wednesday for a $300,000 warrant. It is not uncommon for inmates who are released due to overcrowding to continue to perpetrate crimes after they are released.

Continue reading "Get Out of Jail Free Cards for Fresno Inmates" »