New Criminal Laws for 2010
The criminal laws of California change frequently and the information provided should not be relied upon as legal advice. Contact a criminal defense attorney for legal assistance in all matters of the law.
COMMUNICABLE DISEASE: INVOLUNTARY TESTING
H&S 121060
Adds custodial officers, custody assistants, and non-sworn uniformed employees of a law enforcement agency, as defined, to the list of persons who may seek to have an arrestee's blood tested, either voluntarily or by court order, for specified communicable diseases when they are exposed to that arrestee's blood or bodily fluids, as defined, while acting within the scope of their duties.
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OFFICE HOLDING: FORFEITURE
GOV 3003
Expands existing law requiring certain elected local officers to forfeit their offices upon conviction of a specified crime pursuant to the federal Stolen Valor Act of 2005 to include elected state officers.
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SENTENCING
PEN 186.22, 186.33, 1170.1, 12021.5, 12022.2, and 12022.4
Eliminates the requirement that judges impose the middle term for most sentencing enhancements for felony convictions. Instead the court, in its discretion, will now impose the enhancement that best serves the interests of justice. This is to help ensure that California criminal sentence enhancements for convictions of the most violent crimes are not overturned and declared in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
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DOGFIGHTING FORFEITURES
PEN 598.1
Gives authorities the right to confiscate certain property, profits, proceeds and instruments used in the illegal act of dog-fighting. Confiscated property will be sold to support efforts to care for abused animals.
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COUNTERFEIT MARKS
PEN 350
Enables a prosecutor to ask a judge to permit a trademark owner to donate goods rather than destroying the items at the close of a criminal case.
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PROBATION: TRANSFERS
PEN 1203.9
Requires an adult probationer's county of residence to facilitate the offender's supervision.
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SEXUALLY VIOLENT PREDATORS
W&I 6605
Requires that at the hearing on whether a committed sexually violent predator should be conditionally released or unconditionally discharged, when the person's failure to participate in or complete treatment is relied upon as proof that the person's condition has not changed, and there is evidence that supports that reliance, the jury be instructed that the committed person's failure to participate in or complete the State Department of Mental Health Sex Offender Commitment Program may, if proved, be considered evidence that his or her condition has not changed.
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CORRECTIONS
B & P 14491, 17550.19, and 21653 of the FIN 5305, M&V, PEN 154, 155, 337.4, 368, 422.7, 461, 463, 476a, 484b, 484g, 484h, 487, 487b, 487c, 487e, 487f, 487h, 496, 498, 500, 502, 537, 537e, 550, 551, 565, 566, 592, 594.4, 641.3, 2932, 2933, 2933.2, 2933.3, 2933.5, 2933.6, 2934, 2935, 3000, 4019, 4600 2933.4 of, 2933.05, 3000.03, PRC 14591, 41955, VEH 10851.5, 42002.4, W& I 10980, 1565.
The prison budget reduction plan amends several areas of the law, including but limited to: lowering the property crime threshold for felonies from $2,500 to $950; extends the maximum "program completion credits" earned by inmates seeking to be released on time served from six weeks to four months; commutes the sentences of select deportable aliens, and reduces the ranks of parolees by assigning risk-based parole supervision and lower parole-agent caseloads.
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SEX OFFENDERS: WORKING WITH MINORS
PEN 290.95
Bars registered sex offenders from obtaining a business license from a city or county to operate a retail ice cream truck.
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COMPUTER HACKING: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS: PUNISHMENT
PEN 502
Increases the fines for computer hacking and other computer crimes. Most notably it provides that in the case of a violation involving the computer, computer system, or computer network of a bank, savings and loan, credit card issuer, or other financial institution, the fine for a felony conviction is increased to a maximum of $50,000.
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ARSON: AGGRAVATED: PUNISHMENT
PEN 451.5
Increases the amount of damage required for a person to be guilty of aggravated arson from $5,650,000 to $6,500,000 and extends the repeal date for the provisions relating to property damage until January 1, 2014.
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DOG FIGHTING
PEN 597.5
Increases the penalty for being a spectator at a dog fight to imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, or a fine not to exceed $5,000, or both.
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ELDER OR DEPENDENT ADULT ABUSE
PEN 368
Increases the fine for a second conviction for bodily harming or placing an elder or dependent adult in a situation in which his or her person is endangered to a maximum of $10,000.
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HATE CRIMES: NOOSES
PEN 14111
Makes it a crime to display a noose on the property of another, without authorization, for the purpose of terrorizing the owner or occupant of that private property. The act carries a sentence of up to one year in jail and a $15,000 fine, or both if the offender had a previous conviction.
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HUMAN TRAFFICKING
PEN 186.2, 186.8, 266k, and 13837
Strengthens penalties on pimping, pandering, or procurement of a minor, while dedicating half of the funds raised through these penalties to fund grants for community-based organizations that serve underage victims of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. Increases fines on these crimes to $20,000 per count. Abduction or procurement of a minor is categorized as a "criminal profiteering activity," which could force those convicted of human trafficking to forfeit assets connected to those crimes.
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IDENTITY THEFT: JURISDICTION
PEN 786
In cases where a defendant or defendants have committed identity theft against multiple victims in multiple counties, prosecutors can pool their resources and try all the cases in one county. This ensures that the jury in the case has the ability to see all the facts against any one defendant.
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CRIMINAL RECIDIVISM
PEN 1228
Enacts the California Community Corrections Performance Incentive Act of 2009. Based on an Arizona model, the law creates a program that will share State savings with community probation programs when they improve supervision of felony probations and, as a result, help lower California's prison admissions.
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SPORT BETTING POOLS
PEN 337a, 336.9
Eliminates the felony/misdemeanor penalties that currently exist for friendly sports betting pools, such as March Madness brackets and Super Bowl pools. Instead, violations of the law will be considered simple infractions, punishable by a fine not to exceed $250.
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CRIME VICTIMS: RESTITUTION
PEN 1203c
Authorizes the probation officer of the county from which a person is committed to an institution under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to send to the department a victim's contact information, if the victim consents, when the court has ordered the defendant to pay restitution to the victim, as specified. The victim's contact information remains confidential, as specified.
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DEFERRED ENTRY OF JUDGEMENT
PEN 851.90, 1000.8, 1000.8
Gives Superior Courts the ability to operate deferred entry of judgment (DEJ) re-entry programs in lieu of jail time for low-level, non-violent offenders. This program is modeled after the “Back on Track” program developed by the City of San Francisco. The year-long program requires participation in workforce training, educational training and drug counseling, and has a track record of reducing recidivism among its participation.
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CRIMINAL PROCEDURE: TRIALS: TIMING
PEN 1382
A defendants' withdrawal of a time waiver for a right to trial within 60 days of arraignment must be done in open court. Absent an express general time waiver from the defendant, or upon the withdrawal of a general time waiver, the court shall set the trial date, as specified, and shall notify all parties of that date.
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WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS
CIV 340.6, PEN 851.8, 4901, 4903, 4904, 851.86
Extends the time for filing a claim with the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board (VCGCB) for a wrongful conviction and imprisonment from six months to two years. A finding that a person is factually innocent can be used as evidence in a claim for wrongful conviction filed with the board and extends the statute of limitations for legal malpractice from one year to two years where the plaintiff has obtained a finding of factual innocence.
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CRIMINAL PROCEDURE: DISCOVERY
PEN 1054.3
Authorizes a court to order a defendant to submit to a prosecution-retained mental health expert in a criminal case where the defendant places his or her mental state in issue as a defense to the criminal charge.
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CRIME: SCHOOL GROUNDS: PROHIBITTED WEAPONS
PEN 626.10
Clarifies current law regarding possession of weapons on school campuses by specifically adding razor blades and box cutters to the list of prohibited weapons.
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NITROUS OXIDE: PROHIBIT SALE TO MINORS
PEN 381c
Prohibits the sale or distribution of nitrous oxide including any paraphernalia containing nitrous oxide to a minor under the age of eighteen.
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GRAND THEFT: CARGO
PEN 487h
Every person who steals, takes, or carries away the cargo of another, if the value of the cargo exceeds $950, except as specified, is guilty of grand theft.
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UNLAWFUL DETAINER: CONTROLLED SUBSTANCES & FIREARMS
CIV 3485, 3486, 1161, H & S 1157.1
Establishes statewide the criteria for determining when a tenant is guilty of unlawful detainer, including conduct involving illegally selling a controlled substance, or the commission of an offense involving unlawful possession or use of illegal weapons or ammunition or the use of the premises to further that purpose. Any of those acts may be deemed to constitute committing a nuisance on the premises.
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TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDERS: PRIVATE POSTSECONDARY INSTITUTIONS
CPP 527.85, PEN 273.6
Administrators of educational sites, like schools and technical institutions, may file for a temporary restraining order against people who threaten a campus.
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COUNTERFEIT GOODS: ABATEMENT
B&P 17800, PEN 11226
Gives local law enforcement officials the power to declare any building or property on which counterfeiting occurs a public or private "nuisance."
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SEARCH WARRANTS
PEN 1524
Authorizes the issuance of a search warrant when the property or things to be seized include a firearm that is owned by, or in the possession of, or in the custody or control of, a person who is subject to specified prohibitions regarding firearms pursuant to protective orders, as specified.
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COMPOSITE KNUCKLES
PEN 12020.1
Expands the misdemeanor for manufacturing or selling hard plastic or plastic knuckles to include possession of them.
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AMMUNITION
PEN 12316, 12317, 12318, 12060, 12316, 12320.
Requires sellers of handgun ammunition to obtain a thumbprint and other information from ammunition purchasers, as specified. Prohibits supplying or delivering, as specified, handgun ammunition to prohibited persons, as described, by persons or others who know, or by using reasonable care should know, that the recipient is a person prohibited from possessing ammunition or a minor prohibited from possessing ammunition, as specified. Violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor with specified penalties. Delivery or transfer of ownership of handgun ammunition may only occur in a face-to-face transaction, with the deliverer or transferor being provided bona fide evidence of identity of the purchaser or other transferee.
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ANIMAL ABUSE: CATTLE: TAIL DOCKING
PEN 597n
Expands existing law that makes it a misdemeanor for any person to cut the solid part of the tail of any horse in the operation known as "docking" to also prohibit the docking of cattle, excluding veterinary treatment.
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HIGHWAY WORKERS: ASSAULT AND BATTERY
PEN 241.5, 243.65
Expands the definition of “highway worker” for the offense of assault against a highway worker engaged in the performance of his or her duties to include employees of a city, county, or city and county, as well as employees of a contractor while working under contract with the Department of Transportation, contractors and employees of contractors while working under contract with a city, county, or city and county, and volunteers, as defined, and to include additional specified activities related to local roads or streets.
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SEX OFFENDERS: ASSESSMENTS
Makes largely technical and operational changes to the State-Authorized Risk Assessment Tool For Sex Offenders, in an effort to ensure the sex offender risk assessments are reliable enough to be held up in court challenges.
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WITNESS RELOCATION AND ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: ADDRESS RECORDS
PEN 14029.5
Provides that no person, state or local public agency, or private entity shall post the home address, the telephone number, or personal identifying information that discloses the location of any witness or witness family member participating in the Witness Relocation and Assistance Program (WRAP) with the intent that another person imminently use that information to commit a crime involving violence or a threat of violence against that witness or witness' family member, and that a violation of these provisions is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,500, or up to 6 months in a county jail, or both. Also provides that a violation that leads to the bodily injury of the witness, or the witness' family members who are participating in the program, is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $5,000, or up to one year in a county jail, or both.
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The criminal laws of California change frequently and the information provided should not be relied upon as legal advice. Contact a criminal law attorney for legal assistance in all matters of the law. | |
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