Recently in Defense and Process Category

Thomas L. Goldstein was convicted of a 1979 murder and spent 24 years in prison for a crime that he claims that he did not commit. The murder conviction came after a jailhouse informant testified that Thomas Goldstein had confessed to the murder when they were in the Long Beach Jail together.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a federal judge overturned the murder conviction 24 years later in 2004, after the credibility of the informant's testimony was called into question. It turns out that lawyers representing Thomas Goldstein claimed that the informant was promised leniency in a grand theft conviction if he testified against Thomas Goldstein.

So you have a friend or family member that has just been arrested and they're asking you to post bail. What does that mean?

After an arrest, a person may have to wait months before their case goes to trial. But our criminal justice system allows defendants to be free from jail until they are proven guilty. After all, the Eighth Amendment of our Constitution states that ''No cruel and unusual punishment is to be inflicted." Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys say that this includes imprisoning an innocent person.

[Editor's Note: This post has been edited to indicate that the defendant pled guilty to the charge of attempting to dissuade a witness, not the charge of bribing a witness as we had originally reported.]

Sean G. Erenstoft, a criminal attorney in Los Angeles County, will no longer be able to practice law in California after he attempted to dissuade a witness. The attorney is best known for once representing Nicholas Prugo, one of the key suspects in the famous Bling Ring case. With this ongoing case, several teenagers were charged with theft after allegedly breaking into the homes of Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, Audrina Patridge and Lindsay Lohan.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Sean Erenstoft pleaded no contest on Wednesday to attempting to dissuade a witness. The charge stems from a separate case from the Bling Ring, in which the lawyer was accused of filing a civil case against the victim and then dropping the case in exchange for a favorable testimony at his client's sentencing.

While Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys are anxiously waiting to hear the verdict in the racially charged murder trial of former BART police officer Johannes Mehserle, it looks like they'll have to wait a little bit longer because the jury deliberations are starting from scratch today.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that jurors in the high-profile murder case deliberated for more than two hours last week without reaching a verdict. Jury deliberations were supposed to resume yesterday, but were postponed because of a sick juror. Another juror is leaving on vacation today, so an alternate will be taking that juror's place and the whole process will have to start over.

The doctor who has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson has an assigned court date for August 23, although Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys, prosecutors, and Judge Michael Pastor have all agreed that the August date might be delayed as the case progresses.

Reuters reports that the defendant Conrad Murray and his lawyers appeared in court on Monday, where Judge Michael Pastor ruled that the doctor could keep his California medical license. The judge said that he did not have the authority to suspend Conrad Murray's license because a previous judge had already issued a ruling saying that he could practice medicine as long as he did not issue sedatives. The Los Angeles Superior Court Judge said that if California officials wanted to pursue the matter further, they could appeal his ruling.

A 17-year-old boy faces life in prison for allegedly shooting a father and his 12-year-old son in June 2008, but Whittier Daily News reports that the teenager hopes to avoid a murder charge based on "reasonable doubt."

A downtown Los Angeles jury began deliberating the murder charges on Monday. Angel Sosa, who was accused of the murdering the two people at a Montebello high school graduation party, was just 15 years old at the time of the shooting. Because of his age, he is not eligible for the death penalty.

Two hundred Los Angeles residents were called to court yesterday for the first day of jury selection in the trial of Officer Johannes Mehserle. The former BART police officer has been charged with second degree murder for allegedly shooting an African American man on January 1, 2009 at the Fruitvale BART station.

The shooting has been marked as a high profile case and has turned into a very heated issue all over California. Criminal defense attorneys for Johannes Mehserle had the trial moved from Alameda County because they said the defendant would not receive a fair trial in the Bay Area.

Former Manson follower of the Charles Manson family, Bruce Davis, was found suitable for parole in January after a five-hour-long hearing. The man was convicted in the murders of Gary Hinman and stuntman Donald 'Shorty' Shea in 1969. KTLA News reports that Bruce Davis was sentenced to two life terms, but a two-person parole panel recently gave the approval of a supervised release from prison.

The parole of Bruce Davis still needs to be approved by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who now has the power to accept or reverse the parole panel's decision. According to KTLA News, Charles Manson and most of his followers in the Charles Manson family have repeatedly been denied parole. Charles Manson will actually soon be up for parole again in 2012.

Ben Martin was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Wednesday for a homeless attack resulted in the death of a homeless man in the Mid-Wilshire area. At the defense's request, the judge recommended to the state Department of Corrections that the man be sent to a prison in the Riverside County area, where his family lives.

The Los Angeles Times reports that the homeless man, John McGraham, suffered a violent death when he was attacked and then set on fire with an emergency flare back in 2008. Apparently, Ben Martin really hated homeless people.

A prominent Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer has been accused of one felony count each of dissuading a witness, bribery of a witness and offering to bribe a witness, according to Los Angeles Daily News.

The lawyer Sean G. Erenstoft, 42, pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday morning in a grand jury indictment. Prosecutors allege that the Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer dissuaded the victim in a stalking case from testifying against his client at a preliminary hearing.