San Francisco & Bay Area Criminal Defense Lawyers

California, cannabis, and corruption recently squared off in United States v. Kimbrew .  The Ninth Circuit’s holding in United States v. Kimbrew , 2019 WL 6693744 (9th Cir. Dec. 9, 2019) clarified the reach of the federal bribery statute, 18 U.S.C. § 201, which requires the existence of a quid pro quo agreement. A   quid pro quo is the exchange of something in return for something else. As a topical example , President Trump’s impeachment stems from an alleged quid pro quo: the White House purportedly attempted to leverage foreign aid in exchange for the investigation of President Trump’s potential political rival, Joe Biden. In the white collar crime context , a quid pro quo agreement occurs when “the defendant received, or intended to receive, something of value in exchange for an official act.” United States v. Silver , 864 F.3d 102, 111 (2d Cir. 2017). The Kimbrew court held that criminal liability attaches when a government official agrees to do something in an off...

The December 2019 issue of San Francisco Magazine features its annual list of Top Women Attorneys of Northern California based on Super Lawyers’ rankings. Jayne Law Group is proud to announce that founder Julia Jayne has been selected as a member of the Top Women Attorneys list in the Criminal Defense category.  

On November 25, 2019, the California Supreme Court overturned a 17-year-old exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement. People v. Lopez holds “that the desire to obtain a driver’s identification following a traffic stop does not constitute an independent, categorical exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement.” People v. Lopez , No. S238627, 2019 WL 6267367, at *1 (Cal. Nov. 25, 2019). Before Lopez , police were “allowed … to conduct warrantless vehicle searches for personal identification documents at traffic stops when the driver failed to provide … personal identification upon request.” Id . The Court summarized the facts of Lopez as follows: police “responded to an anonymous tip concerning erratic driving.” Police were “(u)nable to locate the vehicle,” so they “asked dispatch to run a computer search of the license plate.” Police “then drove by the address where the car was registered,” but didn’t see a car matching the description. As such, p...

In 2018, California ushered in a new era of criminal justice ; both the cash bail system and the felony murder rule were abolished with the stroke of then-Governor Jerry Brown’s pen. Not to be outdone, state legislators have introduced 2,628 bills since December 2018. Here, we will focus on five criminal justice reform-related bills. 1.  Automatic sealing of criminal records - AB 1076 AB 1076 would automatically seal the criminal records of an estimated 8 million people arrested or convicted of non-violent misdemeanors and infractions. While California allows people to petition the court to seal their records, most people fail to do so. One of AB 1076’s supporters, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón, observed , “The current laws allow people to get this relief” but most people are “unable to get the relief because they either don’t have the resources or they don’t have the time.” Supporters say that automating the process will increase the educational and profes...