California Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

Phil Spector's six years in Los Angeles County's justice system, that started with an arrest for shooting a actress Lana Clarkson in 2003 will conclude Friday morning when he is sentenced to prison for murder. Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler, who presided over the music producer's two trials, has little discretion in punishing Spector, for the shooting-- a death that jurors decided last month was second-degree murder.

The conviction carries a mandatory 15 years to life in prison, so the judge's only choice will be whether to add on three, four or 10 more years to the minimum sentence for the use of a firearm. The music producer also could get three, four or 10 additional years for using a firearm in the killing that occurred at his Alhambra mansion in 2003.

Spector has been in jail since his April 13 conviction and has vowed to appeal his conviction. This appeal is likely to raise issues regarding the trial admissibility of testimony from five women who said Spector menaced them with guns in a manner that prosecutors said were similar to the circumstances of Clarkson's death in the foyer of his Alhambra mansion—sometimes called “prior bad act” evidence.

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Thursday’s gang bust in Hawaiian Gardens involving 1400 local, state and federal agents resulted in 147 arrests for alleged racially-motivated crimes against African Americans. The L.A. Times is reporting that Operation Knock Out targeted associates of the Varrio Hawaiian Gardens gang (VHG) who were so pervasive in that community that one in 15 people living in the square-mile city just north of Long Beach has ties to it.

In its 193-page indictment outlining the racketeering case, federal authorities accuse the south Los Angeles County street gang of a litany of crimes, including the murder of a sheriff's deputy and racially motivated attacks designed to drive African Americans from their town. The indictments included charges for murder, attempted murder, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and witness intimidation. The gang members, allegedly boasted about being racist, referring to themselves as "the Hate Gang.” The document also details more than a dozen incidents where African Americans were allegedly beaten, shot at or harassed because of their race.

Authorities say that the gang was formed in the 1950s or early '60s and has more than 1,000 members today--spanning several generations, with many connections to the Mexican Mafia.

In cases as large as this, it is expected that many of the smaller gang players will flip --or decide to testify for the prosecution--in order to implicate larger players and score a better plea bargain for themselves.

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Anna Nicole Smith's former boyfriend and two of her physicians pleaded not guilty at their arraignment in Los Angeles Superior Court yesterday to charges of illegally providing prescription drugs to the reality star and former Playboy model.

The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Howard K. Stern is charged with conspiracy to illegally furnish Smith with thousands of prescription pills. In their court filing, prosecutors say that all three knew Smith was an addict and were warned that the prescriptions the doctors were writing were dangerous. The charges are the culmination of a two-year, multi-agency investigation.

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The L.A. Times is reporting that a robbery in a San Bernadino neighborhood has left a mother looking for her three year old son.

The San Bernardino Sheriff's Office says that two men armed with handguns, allegedly robbed a San Bernardino home Sunday afternoon and tied up a mother and her five children. The men ransacked the home and took an unspecified amount of cash and property, and then kidnapped the three year old child.

According to reports, both suspects are described as thin, light-skinned Hispanic males. According to the Sherriff’s Office, one is believed to be about 18 years old, 5-feet-8 and wearing blue jeans, a green T-shirt and a black baseball cap. The other is believed to be about 24 years old, 5-feet-10 and wearing a black shirt, black pants and boots, and a white bandanna.

The boy is described as 3 feet tall, about 40 pounds, wearing a yellow shirt with blue sleeves, blue striped shorts and sandals.

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