Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

For the benefit of you and other readers of this: We at this site are here to offer general guidance only, frequently to go hire counsel for your problem. Asking instead for free anonymous legal advice is going to get you nothing useful. No attorney, from here or elsewhere, is going to tell you what to do unless you are his retained client. You already have a well experienced attorney, who has given you his educated opinion, so if you want a different 2nd opinion on this case, you will have to hire and consult with private counsel local to you, paying for his time necessary to review the entire case, reports, evidence, witness statements, etc., before he can offer an intelligent informed opinion. I regularly offer that for prospective clients willing to pay.

However, I will offer you quick, off the cuff, general guidance by telling you that demanding to go to trial by rejecting the DA's last, best and final offer because you are 'innocent' carries the risk that, if you lose at trial, you will likely be sentenced to the full term of all charges you are convicted of. Judges don't appreciate defendants using up court resources when there was a reasonable offer that would have avoided trial, and reduced your jail/prison time as well. That you don't 'like' the offer is not the determining factor; no one likes going to jail for their crimes. You should listen to your attorney and carefully weigh his advice. If you don't like it, you can always pay someone else to tell you what you want to hear and then take it to trial if he is willing, and you can afford it. That is your right.

A little 'free' legal opinion: claiming 'innocence' and 'the cops lied', is fine for your personal emotions, but your emotions are not admissible evidence. Realize please that the arresting/ investigating officers, then the police department, and then the DA's office, all reviewed all the evidence and each concluded they could prove a case against you, otherwise they wouldn't have wasted their time and the court's bringing these charges against you. Plus, if the judge at PreTrial considered the offer outrageous and unfair he could have intervened. Apparently he didn't. At trial you will have to show 'they' were all wrong Remember too that their 'neutral' word carries more weight with judges and jurors than your 'suspect' word. Factor that in to your decision before rejecting the offer.