Felonies are the most serious crimes, punishable by years in prison upon conviction. They range from Homicide to white collar crimes, and from drug offenses to crimes like rape, kidnapping, and computer crimes.

California felonies are punishable by prison time in excess of one year. If you have been accused of a felony, or are under investigation for a felony, you need to engage a qualified, experienced criminal law attorney immediately. Your reputation, job, family, and entire life are in jeopardy--especially if you are innocent of the crime.

Hiring an attorney immediately allows us to start fact-finding and negotiating as soon as possible. Often, we can intervene in a case before a great deal of adverse publicity is generated--but only if we are engaged as soon as possible after the arrest, indictment, or the beginning of the investigation.

Examples of criminal cases that we defend include:

White Collar Crime. These non-violent crimes have some sort of dishonesty at their core, and generally involve business professionals. These include computer crimes, bribery, embezzlement, making false statements, tax evasion and other crimes linked to tax law, perjury, and obstruction of justice. With our firm's vast business experience, we can work with any white collar crime situation.

Crimes to Property. These include theft crimes such as burglary or criminal damage to property exceeding $1000. These crimes also include embezzlement, writing bad checks, misusing trade secrets, stealing cable television signals, and various kinds of fraud.

Rape and Kidnapping. These very serious crimes can result in decades in prison on conviction. Stalking may also be a felony under some circumstances.

Hate Crimes. Under California law, a hate crime is defined as, "violence, intimidation, or threat of violence against a person due to age, ancestry, color, disability, gender, national origin, political affiliation, position in a labor dispute, race, religion, or sexual orientation." It doesn't matter what race either the perpetrator or victim is. This crime is often charged in conjunction with other crimes, like assault.

Federal Drug and Gun Crimes. Although California's drug laws may be lighter than in many states, there are still federal laws to contend with. If a gun is on the person of someone who is committing a drug or other crime, there is a mandatory extra five years in prison tacked on to the sentence.

Assault and Battery. These crimes are more serious when a weapon is involved. A felony conviction will destroy your life.

Call us to set up a consultation as soon as you are arrested, indicted, or become aware that you are under investigation, so that we can start protecting your rights immediately.