San Jose Criminal Defense Law Blog

A new product has been created that may help sober drivers avoid inaccurate breathalyzer results and unnecessary arrests for DUI. The product was created by a defense attorney on the other side of the country and a former state patrol and a doctor.

Alcohol present in the mouth of a person given a breathalyzer can inaccurately raise the results of the test. The product is made of carbon-based minerals and can be put into the mouth to help absorb the alcohol residue in the mouth of a sober driver.

Medical marijuana patients and growers are legally allowed to possess and use marijuana for medical reasons, but they are still beseiged by law enforcement for this activity.

As discussed in the previous post, a California congresswoman recently introduced a bill to keep the federal government from raiding the property of medical marijuana dispensaries. Representative Barbara Lee introduced the States' Medical Marijuana Property Rights Protection Act to support medical marijuana small business owners and users. She argues that the small businesses bring tax money to the state and also serve people who are legally allowed to use marijuana.

Federal prosecutors have been cracking down lately on medical marijuana dispensaries in California and many people, including one state representative, are fed up.

Representative Barbara Lee has introduced the States' Medical Marijuana Property Rights Protection Act in Congress this week in response to the crackdowns, particularly U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag's recent lawsuit brought against a San Jose and Oakland-based medical marijuana business. Lee wants the federal government to stop intimidating state law-abiding citizens from opening up medical marijuana dispensaries.

Lee says that small business owners that open up dispensaries invest money into their business and pay taxes to the state. The state's voters have made medical marijuana legal and Lee says that is a decision that the federal government should respect.

As discussed in a previous post on this blog, police may obtain cellphone location data without a search warrant. Privacy advocates take issue with this because they point out that the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution protects against unreasonable search and seizure, yet police can obtain a lot of information about a person through cellphone location data without having to first prove probable cause that the person is committing a crime.

In addition, other people who are not even suspects are included in the location data. If a suspect ordered a pizza, the pizza delivery man could have his location data also examined by police. A recent editorial in The New York Times suggests that we call cellphones what they really are -- trackers -- so, at least, people are aware that when they use them or carry them in their pocket or purse, data is being collected about them that could potentially be handed over to law enforcement officials.

As discussed in the previous post, being accused of domestic violence in California is serious and can significantly impact your life. You may have to pay the cost of bond, fines and restitution. There are also the costs that are harder to calculate, such as the cost of losing the ability to see your children on a regular basis, being deported and losing your right to own a gun.

It is important to take domestic violence charges as seriously as the authorities charging you, and if you have a restraining order issued against you, it is important to obey it. The three types of restraining orders are stay-away orders, kick-out or move-out orders, and personal conduct restraining orders. The previous post discussed the stay-away order. Below the kick-out or move-out order and personal conduct restraining order are explained.

In California, domestic violence allegations are taken seriously and people who are accused of domestic violence are almost always prosecuted. You may have to pay the costs of bond to get out of jail, fines, court fees and restitution, as well as take anger management classes. Being convicted of domestic violence can affect child custody arrangements, job opportunities, your immigration status and whether you can own a gun. 

For these reasons, it is important to take any accusations or charges against you seriously. If you have a restraining order issued against you, it is important to obey it. The different types of restraining orders are stay-away orders, kick-out or move-out orders, and personal conduct restraining orders.

People in California might be surprised to hear how many cellphone location records law enforcement in the U.S. requested from cellphone companies last year: 1.3 million. This does not mean that 1.3 million people had their cellphone records examined -- probably far more than that. This is because police often ask for location data for several people in every request.

The New York Times and ProPublica reported on the issue and talked with privacy advocates who believe that this information should only be turned over to police after they have obtained a search warrant. Police need to prove probable cause that a search will reveal evidence of a crime before they can obtain a warrant for a wiretap on a person's phone or track the phone in real time. They only have to show that location data will give them needed facts about a case to get the location data.

A study published this month in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine found that one in four teens admitted to sending sexually-explicit text messages, or "sexts." The researchers were curious as to whether the practice of sending a sext could give clues to teens' overall sexual behavior.

The researchers asked teens if they had sent a sext, asked another teen to send a sext, or had refused to send a sext, and whether those choices related to other sexual choices, such as whether the teens were sexually active or not. 

The study authors found that the sexting behavior of teens can indeed be indicative of their physical sexual behavior. The researchers did not say whether this was a bad thing, however, because they didn't know whether the sexting actually led to the sexual behavior or vice versa. The researchers said that sexting wasn't necessarily harmful, unless it was specifically used to harass or bully. In California, teens who send sexts can be expelled from school.