Source: http://steeringlaw.com/criminal-attorney/
Timestamp: 2017-10-18 03:53:36
Document Index: 125088397

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 148', '§ 148', '§ 647', '§ 148', '§ 148', '§ 242', '§ 148', '§ 148', '§ 240', '§ 242', '§ 69', '§ 69', '§ 69', '§ 69', '§ 148', '§ 148']

Contempt of Cop / Resisting Arrest Cases -
As shown below the ambiguity of California’s “Contempt of Cop” statute, Cal. Penal Code § 148(a)(1), “allows” the police to claim to that you committed a crime for behavior that is constitutionally protected, such as verbally protesting police action (i.e. “officer, stop hitting that handcuffed man in his head”), questioning police assertions of authority (i.e. “Do you have a search warrant to have entered and searched my house“) and failing to immediately comply with orders from a police officer (i.e. “Officer; why are you pointing that gun a my face and want me to lie down on the dirty ground”.) It’s also the general default charge that the police use when you didn’t commit a crime, because the boys and girls back at the at the station in the report writing room, will come-up with some sort fabrication of the events, based on the “deniable” and the “undeniable”, to justify splitting you head open for not getting on the ground fast enough. The police Admit but spin what they can’t deny (i.e. conclusive video or audio recording), and deny anything prejudicial, or any material fact that is viewed as potentially helpful to the victim of police abuse being able to recover compensation for outrages perpetrated upon them. A recent example of the ignorance about and misuse of Cal. Penal Code § 148(a)(1) is the arrest of actress Daniele Watts in Los Angeles by the LAPD. The LAPD received a call that a man and a woman were getting it on in a car in Los Angeles. When they arrived at the scene they saw Daniel Watts and her boyfriend, but they weren’t doing anything. The LAPD Officer started his investigation for a possible case of lewd conduct in public (Cal. Penal Code § 647(a)) and asked Ms. Watts for her name. She refused to tell the officer her name, claiming that she had a right not to do so. Notwithstanding the fact that Ms. Watt’s claim was correct, the LAPD Officer told her that she had no such right and that she was obligated to divulge her identity to him (which is not the law.) Because of Ms. Watts’ refusal to identify herself, the LAPD Officer handcuffed her and placed her in the back seat of his patrol car (listen to recording here.) Throughout the contact, one can hear the officer repeat that he had “probable cause” (of some crime; which he didn’t), and that when the police are investigating a crime that a civilian has a duty to cooperate with the police including having to tell the police who they are, under the threat of arrest for non-compliance for Cal. Penal Code § 148(a)(1). The officer was wrong on both counts. First, a person has no obligation to cooperate with a police investigation; especially of themselves. See, People v. Shelton, 60 Cal.2d 740 (1964) (“A suspect has no duty to cooperate with officers in securing evidence against him . . . “.) Second, since 1980 the California Courts have held that it is not a crime for a person to refuse to identify themselves to the police; even if they’re being lawful detained (save when they’re at the jail and are being booked) See, In re Chase C., Cal.App.4 (12/18/15); In re Gregory S.,112 Cal. App. 3d 764, 779 (1980); People v. Quiroga, 16 Cal.App.4th 961 (1993); People v. Christopher, 137 Cal.App.4th 418 (2006); United States v. Christian, 356 F.3d 1103 (9th Cir. 2004); Martinelli v. City of Beaumont, 820 F.2d 1491 (9th Cir. 1987). So, while LAPD Chief Charlie Beck was on radio and television defending his officer’s arrest of Ms. Watts for refusing to divulge her name (See KCAL 9 TV Broadcast), he was encouraging other LAPD officers to commit crimes against civilians like the LAPD officer did against Ms. Watts when he cuffed her and placed her in his car for violation of Cal. Penal Code § 148(a)(1) for failing to identify herself. That’s a federal crime by the LAPD Officer; a violation of federal constitutional rights under color of authority; 18 U.S.C. § 242; a felony. Fear not, however, Chief Beck; the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office has now come to your rescue. The California District Attorney’s Association and the California Department of Justice has even published guidance for California Peace Officers on this issue, and that guidance is that a failure to identify oneself to a peace officer is not a crime in California:
The Los Angeles Police Departments (LAPD’s) motto is: We’re the badest gang in town. A recent study of the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department (LASD) that was commissioned by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (“Report of the Citizens Commission on Jail Violence“) actually found that there is a culture within the Los Angeles Sheriffs Department of various “gangs of officers”, who routinely beat, torture, maim and kill members of the jails, and of the community, for fun; for the honor of the gang. Everybody is a scumbag, and have no rights.
On December 19, 2016 a mistrial was declaredin that federal criminal corruption case against Sheriff Lee Baca. During the two-week trial, prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office tried to convince jurors that Baca had played a central role in a scheme carried out by a group of subordinates to thwart an FBI investigation into abuses and corruption by sheriff’s deputies working as jailers. Baca’s lawyers countered he had been unaware of the ploy unfolding beneath him. The panel deliberated for days, with all but one of the 12 jurors ultimately voting to acquit Baca. After the panel announced it was deadlocked, Anderson declared the mistrial.
The "perjury show" involved in the prosecution of these type of cases is choreographed by the police agency, the District Attorney's Office, and their experts and minions. That's right; perjury. Ask any judge or lawyer about the chances of any witness in a Court proceeding actually getting prosecuted for perjury, for testifying falsely in a California or Federal courtroom. After all, in almost every case, criminal or civil, there are two mutually exclusive versions of at least the key material facts. Someone must be lying, so someone is usually committing perjury in a trial. By the way, perjury is a crime that usually requires two witnesses to convict, so if you're alone and get gooned by the local Constables, the threat of a perjury prosecution, is generally not available as any protection for those unfortunates who were beaten-up, because the police are guaranteed not to tell the truth.
In California, the Deputy District Attorney's have a slogan: "Anyone can convict the guilty"; It takes real talent, however, to convict the innocent." It takes even less talent to convict one of violation of Cal. Penal Code § 148(a)(1.) Almost all "Contempt of Cop cases" usually allege bogus violations of the following statutes: 1) Cal. Penal Code § 148(a)(1) (resisting / obstructing / delaying peace officer); 2) Cal. Penal Code § 240 / 241(c)) (assault on a peace officer); 3) Cal. Penal Code § 242 / 243(b) (battery on a peace officer); and 4) Cal. Penal Code § 69 (interfering with public officer via actual or threatened use of force or violence.) Cal. Penal Code § 69 is a "wobbler"; a California public offense that may be filed by the District Attorney's Office as either a felony or a misdemeanor. In Orange County, Riverside County and Los Angeles County, allegations of violation of Cal. Penal Code § 69 are usually filed as misdemeanors. In San Bernardino County, however, allegations of violation of Cal. Penal Code § 69 are filed as felonies more often than her sister counties. Mr. Steering has advised or consulted on, or have represented clients in, literally thousands, of these "contempt of cop" type cases; both civil and criminal. By far, the most commonly abused criminal in California is the primary "contempt of cop" statute; violation of Cal. Penal Code § 148(a)(1).
5) The ease with which police officers lie in Court; they're professionals at it.
CALIFORNIA PENAL CODE SECTION 148(a)(1); THE "BOOT" OF THE POLICE STATE
The Ambiguity Of Cal. Penal Code § 148(a)(1), Makes It Difficult To Defend, Because A Jury Can Convict You For Conduct, That's Simply Not A Crime