Orange County Strike Crime Defense Attorneys

California's Three Strikes Law was passed on March 7, 1994. As of September 2003, in less than 10 years, California had incarcerated 42,445 people under the Three Strikes Law. The law is named after the strikes in baseball (Three strikes you're out). But a "strike" under California is a felony that meets certain requirements, such as a violent or serious crime or any crime that involves a deadly weapon.

The law intended to put hardcore violent criminals in prison for 25 years to life. However, that is not how it has turned out. About 65 percent of those imprisoned have in fact been sentenced for nonviolent offenses, which can also be felonies. More Californians incarcerated under the Three Strikes law are in there for drug possession than more serious offenses such as murder, assault or rape. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, there are people serving life sentences for shoplifting and petty theft.

This is exactly why the focus of our Orange County Three Strikes defense attorneys at Wallin & Klarich focus on reducing our clients' charges to misdemeanors or non-strike felonies. Our goal is to stop the Three Strikes process before it can damage your record. If you have been charged with a strikeable felony, it is vital that you seek the advise of an experienced criminal defense law firm such as Wallin & Klarich before entering a guilty plea. It is critical that your California strike crime defense lawyer has significant experience defending Three Strikes cases. At Wallin & Klarich, our team of highly skilled criminal defense lawyers has been successfully handling Three Strikes cases for many years.

Our focus in every Three Strikes case is on the new case and to do everything possible to make sure that our client is not found guilty. However, if that does not happen, we file a motion to ask the court to "strike a prior strike" for the purposes of sentencing. This means that we ask the judge, based on the totality of the circumstances, not to impose a Three Strikes sentence. This can have a significant impact on your case and can reduce a life sentence to a much lower sentence. The court, on a case by case basis, must consider whether the defendant's crime was in line with "the spirit of the Three Strikes law." If you facing charges in Orange County that may result in a strike conviction, please contact Wallin & Klarich without delay for a free consultation and evaluation of your case.