First Time Penal Code 273.5 Arrest - Here’s What to Expect

[Music] one of the questions that I get asked the most frequently is I was just charged with penal code section 273.5 and it's my first offense what's gonna happen and that is what we're going to be talking about in this video and when I talk about penal code section 273.5 I am talking about California penal code section 273.5 which is corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant basically it's domestic violence my name is Veronica I am a criminal defense attorney here in Los Angeles and I help people who have been arrested put their criminal cases behind them so that they can enjoy their lives and their freedom and again in this video I'm going to be answering this frequently Asked question that I get I was just arrested I bonded out for penal code section 273.5 what's gonna happen what am I looking at um okay so first of all um most of the time if you were arrested for Penal Code 273.5 it is as a felony so um you can find that out on the sheriff's website it will say like charge level f um or M if it's a misdemeanor um but also if your bail was fifty thousand dollars that is felony Bill typically um if it was lower that doesn't mean that it's not a felony you should look yourself up on the sheriff's website for Los Angeles County just look up Los Angeles sheriff's website inmate locator type in your name and then you'll be able to see that information right there also if you've got a citation or paperwork or something from your bail bondsman it will say right there okay so most of the time though if the cops arrest you for that they are arresting you for a felony now if you bond out and you have a future court date let's say in a few weeks or a few months what is happening right now is that the prosecution so okay you get arrested right and the cop writes up a police report and at that point you know you think okay I have this criminal case against me I have to go to court on this certain day that's what they make it seem like right your bail bondsman says hey make sure you get there on that day maybe call me after right um but actually what happens is that the police officer writes up his report and then he gives it to the DA's office the prosecutor's office and the prosecutor has to look at that police report and decide do I want to file charges as a felony do I want to file misdemeanor charges do I want to file holders also do I want to file a worse felony but that's rare for 273.5 or do I want to just not file altogether so if you bonded out and you have court in a few weeks a few months what's happening right now is probably nothing and when it gets closer to your court date I would say within like maybe two weeks of your court date but sometimes it's sooner um maybe 30 days uh they the prosecutor will look at the police report or whatever's in their file for you and they're going to decide do I want to file this as felony misdemeanor or not at all basically right um so that is what's going on right now now you do have a chance you have this golden window between the time you bond out in your first court date to have an attorney talk to the prosecutor whether by submitting a packet with all the good things about you your side of the story um or talking to them in their office or on the phone over email and try to get them to either not file or if they're going to file a file as a misdemeanor now if this was your your first offense right and I think it's funny when people say first offense because hopefully only offense right it's not like we're collecting them their first offense and it is a 273.5 charge you actually have a reasonable chance at getting them to not file in most cases um what they're going to be looking at is okay so anything your attorney submits on your behalf which can be the good things about you like your job letters of recommendation um family life like whatever it is all the good things that can be gathered like when you're saying hey I'm a good person don't send me to prison all the reasons why you're saying I'm a good person we want to get that into their file right so they're going to be looking at that another big thing that they're going to be looking at is injuries um so this is really big and if the injuries were really severe to the other party assuming that they had them um that is going to be something where your attorney really needs to try as hard as possible to get them to at least file as a misdemeanor because those are the cases that sometimes get filed as felonies that's much more likely to get filed as a felony if there are bad injuries especially if the person had to go to the hospital um if the alleged victim is on your side I mean another frequently Asked question I get is can they just drop the charges no they cannot once they call the cops once they arrest arrest you the cops come out it is out of that person's hands but they can write a letter write a declaration under penalty of perjury with their side of the story and your attorney can submit that also I've been around doing this stuff long enough to know that sometimes in these relationships maybe things are good at first with the alleged victim but by the time the case is over or we're getting you know a few months into the case things switch so if we can get them nailed down to their story that's favorable for you early on we want to do that um get all of that over to the DA's office now look domestic violence is one of the most common arrests in Los Angeles County they cannot possibly prosecute all of these arrests and they don't about half the time they don't prosecute them at all they will just dismiss it or give it to the city attorney's office that can that would only handled as a misdemeanor and that's it's a whole separate video but I mean they can't possibly prosecute all these if you have been arrested for domestic violence you know how this goes I mean the cops come out and they're pretty much from the time that they come out they're going to make an arrest there's nothing you can say probably at that point either the victim alleged victim or you to get them to not arrest you right so they have all these people that are arrested for basically nothing they don't have strong cases they cannot prosecute all of them so this is the type of case that yeah you've got a decent chance to get it either reduced or dismissed um so that's really important now if you're looking up penal code section 273.5 you might start to get scared because you're going to see things about prison time now if it is your first time and there are no really bad injuries I mean I'm talking about like broken bones I'm talking about you know really severe stuff unlikely that you'll go to prison possibly jail possibly jail and jail typically like the worst offer we see in these cases involving jails like 120 days of which you would do 12. I mean that sucks but that's like if there are you've already um that's for example if there are like bad bruises in like your hand print on the person's arm that's an example of one um if you really there's not anything good to say about you um hopefully that's not true about you but you know if there's not a whole lot that we can show to demonstrate that you're a good person or at least trying to head in that direction sometimes I assign my clients to like hey if you don't have a dream if you're not going to school or work or whatever go get one you need to go get one figure it out get one um because we need to we need to try to bolster the case and the good things about you right to make sure you don't go to prison um but most people almost in I think every single client that I've had although don't quote me on that but um I can't think of a single client I've ever had for a 273.5 that actually would choose State Prison okay so that's really unlikely don't get scared sometimes you will call attorneys who some of them are like they use Scare Tactics as like a sales technique don't get scared um they are probably just telling you that because then when they give you an offer of 120 days in jail it's the first offer it'll look good to you because you're not spending years in State Prison um okay also most of the time 273.5 charges um even if it stays a felony so let's say that the injuries are kind of bad as long as you don't go to state prison it's a wobbler and it can be reduced to a misdemeanor and expunged now it cannot be reduced to mischievement or an expunged until you are finished with probation if you get a probation offer um but it can be reduced in expunged your life is not over I mean there are certain jobs like lawyer doctor um you know certain jobs where you have licensing where that is going to screw you up but for most people it's not going to be necessarily the end of the world because you will be able to get it off of your record you will be able to get it expunged um so basically do not panic do not buy into Scare Tactics um if you have a good attorney many times we are able to get them to not file the case at all and then if they file to file as a misdemeanor so at least worst case scenario is filed as a misdemeanor and now all of these things that I've been talking about I mean we're talking about you know basically if you were to take a plea deal what you would get that doesn't mean you have to take a plea deal I mean sometimes we will set these cases for trial and the only evidence against you would be the alleged victim if the alleged victim doesn't show up and they have no other evidence the case will be dismissed I mean there are all sorts of other things that can happen in these cases that are um that are positive and of course you can fight the case but the purpose of this video is basically when people call me panicked and they have this question I know that they're not always getting this straight honest answer from every single attorney so I want to put this information out there so people that you know got into a loud argument with their girlfriend the neighbor called the cops the cops came out and arrested them saw a random bruise she already had on her arm and arrested them for felony 273.5 with 50K bond I want to make sure that those people don't spend the next few months before their first court date in an absolute state of panic and anxiety um I hope that this video helped if you do have two 73.5 charges in Los Angeles County call me I mean that that is what I do most of my cases are those types of cases um I do have much more serious cases as well but 273.5 is one of the most common arrests that occurs in Los Angeles County um so naturally then I you know I can I don't do DUIs at least not on the misdemeanor level um sometimes if somebody's been injured or it's a strike offense or something but I don't do those types of cases so in terms of like the bulk of my cases it is the 273.5 and I can definitely help you um so if you do have a case like that feel free to book a consultation with me you can find my number or the link to book down below