How Long Do You Have to Wait Before Going to Court?
One of the major downsides to the judicial system is how long it takes. The amount of time that passes between an initial arrest and the defendant finally getting their day in court is often incredibly long.
The first time you’ll see the inside of a courtroom following an arrest is within 48 business hours of your arrest. This particular court appointment is called an arraignment. The purpose of the arraignment is to formally hear the charges you’re facing and for the judge to determine if they’ll grant bail and, if they’re going to grant bail, how much is an appropriate amount.
Some minor charges don’t require an immediate arraignment.
In California, if you’re facing misdemeanor charges, everybody works hard to get you through the court process as quickly as possible. According to state law, anyone facing misdemeanor charges and who is being held in custody is entitled to have a formal trial within 30 days of their arraignment or the date they entered an official plea. If you made bail and aren’t being held in custody, the court has 45 days to arrange your trial.
Another law California has is that the trial must start within ten days of the trial date getting formally set.
Cases involving felony charges are a bit different.
The first difference is that you don’t go from the arraignment to the trial. First, you’ll go through a pre-hearing. The purpose of the pre-hearing is for the prosecution to convince the judge that they do, in fact, have enough evidence supporting the charges to indicate that there’s a chance they could sway the jury. This preliminary hearing must take place within ten business days of your arraignment.
If the judge approves the prosecution’s case, the prosecutor has just 15 days to file “information,” which is the term used to describe the filing of a formal felony complaint against you.
The exact amount of time it takes after this for the case to be heard by a jury depends on the complexity of the case and the court’s schedule.
California’s 3 Most Common Driving Infractions
Every single day, hundreds of drivers throughout the state of California receive traffic violations. While obtaining a ticket for many things is possible, some traffic violations are more common than others.
Speeding
While there aren’t any hard stats showing how many speeding tickets are written by California patrol officers daily, it’s fair to say that speeding tickets make up the bulk of California’s traffic violations.
The exciting thing about speeding tickets is that many drivers, especially younger drivers, don’t think they are a big deal. Drivers don’t understand a speeding ticket’s long-term financial impact on their lives.
The first thing to consider is the cost. The base fee of a California speeding ticket is $35-$200, but that isn’t all you’ll have to pay. There are also fines, fees, and costs connected to the ticket. That $35 ticket will cost you about $150 or more when all is said and done. The faster you are going, the more the speeding ticket will cost. In addition to the traffic ticket fees, you will also see an increase in your car insurance, which could be years before your premiums decrease.
Reckless Driving
California drivers have a severe problem with reckless driving. Reckless driving tickets are issued when a driver is driving in a manner that displays a disregard for your safety as well as the safety as others. In California, many reckless driving incidents involve road rage.
Reckless driving in California isn’t a laughing matter. Depending on the circumstances surrounding the incident, it’s possible that the issue won’t be treated as an infraction, but rather a misdemeanor. If someone is killed in a reckless driving incident, the situation could be handled as a felony.
Using a Cell Phone While Driving
Despite all the warnings, people continue to use their cell phones while driving. Since this has led to several traffic accidents throughout the years, California has adopted strict cell phone driving violations. While you can use a hands-free setup while driving, you’re not allowed to use the phone traditionally. You’re also not allowed to text while you’re driving. In addition, if you are caught driving and using your cell phone, you will receive a negligent operator point on your driving record for each violation in 36 months.
How to Keep Your Life on Track While You’re Out on Bail
Just because you have been released from jail on a bail bond doesn’t mean you’re life will go back to being completely normal. You’ve only been released from jail. Official criminal charges against you will still impact your living over the next few months. You must keep your life on track and organized until your legal matters have been settled.
Here are a few tips that will help you keep your life on track while you’re out on bail.
Review any Restrictions Connected to Your Bail
If you have only been charged with minor crimes, likely, there aren’t any real restrictions connected to your bail. However, if the charges are more serious, the judge probably laid out some rules you must follow if you don’t want your bail revoked. Take some time to review these restrictions and make sure you fully understand how they will impact your day-to-day life.
Let Your Employer Know About Your Situation
Many people hope to hide the news that they’ve been arrested from their employer, but that isn’t always a good idea. First, information about who has been charged with what is readily available in local and online papers. If your employer frequently checks police records or county information, they will likely learn about your charges. It’s far better that they get the news from you.
The second issue is that there will be mandatory court dates in your future; it’s important for your employer to understand why you need those upcoming times off.
Arrange Your Finances so That you Have Budgeted for Bail Bond Payments.
If you signed up for Absolute Bail Bonds zero-down, zero-interest payment plan, you will want to sit down with your normal budget and figure out how to incorporate the regular payments into your budget.
Record Court Date Onto Your Calendar
The most important rule connected to being bailed out of jail is that you must attend all of your mandatory court dates. Don’t assume that you don’t have to go just because it’s something only your lawyer will speak about; you still do. Failing to appear at any mandatory court dates results in the automatic revocation of your bail.
In addition to knowing your court dates, make sure you take some time beforehand to arrange for reliable transportation.
The services our clients enjoy include the following:
- 20% discounts for some applicants
- Zero worry about hidden fees
- Zero-down bail bond
- Zero-interest bail bond
- Flexible payment plans
- Simple contracts
- 24/7 service
- Phone consultations
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To learn more about bail, call (800)793-2245. Free consultations are available 24/7!
Traveling with a Motorcycle Group? Follow These Safety Tips
There are multiple perks to traveling with a motorcycle group as opposed to riding on your own. The top two are that having people along who are as passionate about motorcycles as you makes the entire trip more enjoyable, and that traveling with a group is safer than riding solo.
If you’re planning a group motorcycle adventure this summer, here are a few things you should keep in mind.
Set Up a Pre-Ride Meeting
Don’t underestimate the importance of a pre-ride meeting. A week or two before the planned trip, get together, either in person or virtually, and go over the details of the trip. Make sure everyone understands the itinerary, the route, and all the other things that are expected to crop up along the way. Make sure safety and how to handle emergencies is one of the topics discussed.
In addition to being a great way to help keep the trip organized, the pre-ride meeting is also a wonderful opportunity for any riders who are new to the group to introduce themselves and to start cultivating friendships.
Go Over the Hand Signals
Hand signals are a huge part of riding with a group of fellow motorcycle enthusiasts. Even if everyone has a radio, you must remember that electronic communication often fails so you should always plan on using hand signals in addition to vocal cues. Right before everyone embarks on the journey, take a few minutes to go over the type of hand signal everyone in the group is to use and what that signal looks like.
Hand signals everyone in the group should be familiar with include:
- Follow me
- Hazard in the roadway
- Proceed with Caution
- Pull off
- Single file
- Slow down
- Speed up
Plan Breaks
Even if you are the type of rider who can go for hours without a real break, don’t assume everyone else in your group is the same. You should plan on taking frequent breaks. Ideally, you should plan your breaks during your pre-ride meeting. By having planned break locations along the route, you create a situation for everyone who might get left behind at some point to catch back up.
Use the break as an opportunity to check in with everyone. In addition to making sure that they are comfortable, not fatigued, and still enthusiastic, these break-time check ins are a great opportunity to handle minor repairs, address concerns that have cropped up, and even tweak the itinerary.
Make Sure You Have All the Essentials
Before leaving on the trip, make sure everyone has plenty of:
- Food
- Water
- Safety equipment
- First aid supplies
- Fully charged phones
- A copy of the itinerary
The more organized you are while planning the group motorcycle trip, the more fun everyone will have during the adventure.
What Parents Should Know About Fentanyl (Accidental Exposures to Fentanyl)
Every parent should be worried about fentanyl. It’s showing up with increasing regularity in common street drugs. Unfortunately, the synthetic opioid is often missed with common street drugs because it’s a cheap way to increase the potency of other drugs. Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than plain heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine. In some cases, it’s also deadly. With more than 150 USA deaths linked to fentanyl daily, parents should be concerned about their children encountering this opioid.
It’s a Common Drug Additive
Illegal drug makers love fentanyl because they can make it cheaply. Since it increases the effectiveness of the drugs they sell, adding fentanyl to the mix allows them to charge more money. The problem is that if even just a little too much fentanyl is added to the mix, it becomes deadly. And drug manufacturers aren’t careful about how much fentanyl they lace into their products.
Fentanyl is being found with increasing regularity in pressed pills. It’s highly likely any of the following drugs could be laced with fentanyl:
- Xanax
- OxyContn
- Hydrocodone
Your Child May Not Know They Are About to Consume Fentanyl
The increasing number of fatalities linked to fentanyl has made some teens and young adults wary of the opioid. Some try hard to avoid it. The problem is that there have been many instances where the person who suffered from a fentanyl overdose didn’t know the drugs they were using contained the product.
If you’re unable to curb your child’s drug habit, at least teach them how to use test strips that detect the presence of fentanyl. This drastically decreases the odds of them inadvertently suffering from a fentanyl overdose.
A Single Dose of Naloxone May Not Be Enough to Reverse an Overdose
The good news is that naloxone can help reverse a fentanyl overdose. The bad news is that a single dose may not be enough to complete the job. In most cases, it takes at least two doses of naloxone to stop the overdose.
The Sooner You Recognize the Signs of a Fentanyl Overdose, the Greater the Odds Become that Your Child Will Survive
A key component to surviving a fentanyl overdose is catching it and taking steps to reverse the process as quickly as possible.
Symptoms of a fentanyl overdose are:
- Extreme nausea
- Confusion
- Repressed breathing
- Constricted pupils
- Choking sounds
In addition to administering naloxone, as soon as you realize your child is overdosing, you need to contact 911. EMTs are trained in dealing with fentanyl overdoses and have the supplies needed to reverse the process. The sooner your child is in the capable hands of a medical professional, the better their chances of survival become
Jaywalking is Legal Again
Did you know that you can legally jaywalk in California?
That’s right; you’re free to cross the road whenever you feel like it, even if you’re not in a crosswalk. You can even do so right in front of a police officer, and they won’t be able to stop you or issue a ticket. How cool is that?
You should know that this newfound freedom to jaywalk to your heart’s content does come with a catch. Jaywalking in California is legal, provided you’re able to do so in a manner that’s considered safe.
Jaywalking in California became legal in January of 2023 when California’s CVC 21955 went into effect. When you read through the law, you’ll discover that jaywalking is perfectly legal in California, provided that you’re not in a collision while you’re jaywalking. The idea is that you are expected to pay attention and use good judgment before you walk across the road. If there is a reasonable chance that you’re jaywalking could result in a collision, either with you, another car, or even a pole/sidewalk/mailbox/etc. You will be the one who gets into trouble.
If you’re caught jaywalking in a spot where your action could trigger a collision, you will be issued a ticket. The base cost of the ticket is $196, but there will also be state fees, local fees, and assessments added to the ticket, meaning that you’ll owe significantly more than $200.
Have you enjoyed your new jaywalking privileges yet?
What Happens if You Fail to Appear for Jury Duty?
Our justice system depends heavily on jury duty. If you are contacted about jury duty, you’re expected to attend and uphold your civic responsibilities.
First, it is important to understand that even though you have been contacted about jury duty and are expected to serve, there are some exceptions. The court will excuse you for valid health concerns as well as a few other reasons. That doesn’t mean that because you’re in ill health, you don’t have to respond to the summons. You will have to contact the court and discuss how to go about proving your concerns and validating them before you’re excused.
While illness is the most common reason for a person to be excused from jury duty, it’s not the only reason. Other valid reasons include the following:
- You’re a full-time student
- Occupational domain
- You’re connected to the case
- You have a strong, unshakeable opinion about one of the issues surrounding the case
- You have a great deal of advanced knowledge of the case
- You’re elderly (once you’ve passed your 70th birthday, you’re no longer required to serve on a California jury.)
If you aren’t able to be excused from your jury duty summons, you are expected to show up at the courthouse at the appointed time and date. The first time you fail to appear, you’ll receive a postcard from the court giving you a second chance. If you ignore that second postcard, you’ll be charged with contempt of court.
Getting charged with contempt of court for missing jury duty is not a laughing matter. This is a criminal charge. You will have to appear before a judge who will decide how you’re failure to honor your jury duty obligations will be handled. They could order you to spend a few days in jail, do community service, or even fine you up to $1,500.
If, for some reason, you’re unable to honor a jury duty summons in California, you are allowed to postpone your jury duty. This isn’t an indefinite postponement. You’re only allowed to ask for two jury duty postponements during a 12-month period.
When all is said and done, it’s in your best interest to handle the jury summons as soon as you receive it.
4 Estafas de Facebook que Debe Conocer
La mayoría de nosotros pasamos una sorprendente cantidad de tiempo en Facebook. Nos encanta publicar sobre las cosas emocionantes que suceden en nuestras vidas, disfrutamos viendo las fotos que comparten nuestros seres queridos y, a menudo, lo tratamos como una línea interesante que brinda una forma legal de espiar la vida de los demás. Rara vez nos detenemos a pensar en lo peligroso que puede ser Facebook, aunque habitualmente escuchamos sobre amigos cuyas cuentas que han sido pirateadas o que se han encontrado con una estafa en Facebook.
Si bien no tiene que dejar de usar Facebook por completo, sacará más provecho del gigante de las redes sociales si está al tanto de las estafas más populares de Facebook y sabe cómo identificarlas y evitarlas.
Suplantación de identidad
El phishing en Facebook es como otras formas de phishing en Internet , simplemente se lleva a cabo en Facebook. La forma en que funciona es que alguien crea una cuenta de Facebook ficticia que sugiere que ofrece un servicio o posee un negocio. Cuando expresa interés en el negocio/servicio, el genio detrás de la cuenta roba una gran parte de su información, incluyendo su contraseña de Facebook, y la usa para beneficio personal.
La mejor manera de detectar un esquema de phishing de Facebook es mirar el sitio web al que se dirige. Si la URL tiene algo que no sea facebook.com, es una estafa y debe salir y borrar su historial de navegación de inmediato.
Productos Falsificados Promocionados en Facebook Marketplace
El mercado de Facebook se ha convertido en un lugar popular para que las personas que tienen productos baratos ganen dinero rápido al promocionarlos como si el producto fuera de marca o de alta calidad. La mejor manera de evitar caer en esta trampa es estudiar con atención las imágenes y leer las reseñas del vendedor. Si el producto parece sospechoso o hay muchas malas críticas, aléjese de ese vendedor y busque algo más para comprar.
Estafas de Trabajos Falsos
Aunque Facebook no es el primer lugar que la mayoría de la gente busca cuando busca un nuevo trabajo, hay algunas oportunidades de trabajo legítimas publicadas en el sitio de redes sociales. El problema es que también hay algunas estafas de trabajo falsas sorprendentemente convincentes disponibles en Facebook.
El propósito de las estafas de trabajos falsos es el mismo que otras estafas, la persona detrás de la estafa quiere extraer información específica de usted que puede usar para su propio beneficio. La mejor manera de protegerse de una estafa de trabajo falsa que se encuentra en Facebook es nunca dar ninguna información personal, cambiar su contraseña cada vez que envíe un mensaje a la persona responsable de la oferta de trabajo e investigue cuidadosamente la compañía que supuestamente publicó el trabajo.
La Estafa Que Involucra Tarjetas de Regalo
La regla general es que si algo suena demasiado bueno para ser verdad, probablemente lo sea. Ese es ciertamente el caso con muchas de las ofertas de tarjetas de regalo que flotan en Facebook. Una de las razones por las que tantas personas son engañadas por las estafas de tarjetas de regalo falsas es que la persona detrás de la estafa piratea una cuenta y hace que parezca que la oferta proviene de un ser querido. Y la redacción es persuasiva y auténtica.
La estafa es doble. Dado que se le pide que haga clic en un enlace y brinde información sobre usted, la persona detrás de la estafa recopila información de usted que puede usar para ayudar a robar su identidad. También le piden que comparta la publicación, lo que les permite conectarse con sus amigos de Facebook para que puedan ejecutar la estafa de la tarjeta de regalo en otras personas.
La mejor manera de evitar verse atraído por una estafa de Facebook es limitar sus acciones en las redes sociales a sólo tratar con personas que conoce bien y siempre confirmar su identidad antes de hacer clic en cualquier enlace o cuenta secundaria.
Teen Marijuana Use in California
Recreational marijuana is legal in California. However, that doesn’t mean that teens are allowed to partake in marijuana.
At this point, it’s legal for anyone who is over the age of 21, to grow, use, and carry marijuana. That age limit is important. If a person is 21 and enjoying some marijuana, they’re fine. The same isn’t true if their 19-year-old friend is doing the same thing.
The one exception to marijuana use in teenagers is if that medical marijuana can be prescribed to anyone who is at least 18 years old. That means that if an 18-, 19-, or 20-year-old has a prescription from a legit doctor, they can legally use marijuana. If a teen is prescribed medical marijuana, they must adhere to the rules laid out in the prescription. The slightest deviation could result in them facing serious legal repercussions.
Teens who are caught illegally in the possession of marijuana will face the same legal consequences they’d face if they were caught with alcohol. As long as the teen is merely in the possession of the marijuana but not using it, they will be charged with an infraction. The consequences of this particular marijuana infraction include a fine, mandatory drug education, and community service.
Teens who are caught operating a car after they have been illegally using marijuana will face the same consequences that they would had they been illegally drinking. In addition to fines and drug counseling, they will face license suspension. The more times they are caught driving while under the influence of marijuana, the more severe the legal consequences become.
At the end of the day, it’s important to make sure teenagers understand that it’s really in their best interest to wait until they are 21 before they experiment with marijuana. While they still have to be careful and make sure they don’t take so much that their ability to drive is impaired, by waiting until they’re legally able to do so, they don’t have to worry about getting into trouble for simply having marijuana in their pockets or tucked into a purse.
Tips for a Peaceful Holiday Family Gathering
This is the season when many of us are getting together with both our immediate and extended family to celebrate the holidays. While this is supposed to be a fun time that is full of joy and shared memories, all of us are painfully aware that whenever a family gathers, there’s always a chance that an argument will break out.
While you might not be able to completely prevent family discourse over the holidays, there are some things you can do that will help you maintain the peace during gatherings.
Know Your Limits
Before getting together with your family for the holidays, take a few moments to access your mental and emotional health. Are you in a good state of mind or do you feel like it wouldn’t take much to push you over the edge? Take another moment to determine how much time you can spend with your family before you find your emotions starting to unravel. Commit yourself to only spending that amount of time at the gathering before you make your excuses and leave. Don’t be afraid to leave early if your family becomes too much. It’s far easier to apologize for leaving early than it is to apologize for getting into a massive argument with your siblings.
Don’t Bring Up Old Problems
Treat this family gathering as a blank slate. Old arguments, complaints, and other issues should be pushed aside and allowed to rest. If you have a problem with how a relative has treated you in the past, try to avoid that particular relative at this particular gathering. Once the holidays are over, you can always call them and try to resolve the issue.
Evaluate Your Attitude
You may not be able to do much about your cranky uncle or bickering parents, but you can do something about your attitude. Instead of approaching the family gathering with a chip on your shoulder, convince yourself to be tolerant and cheerful. This is one of those fake it until you make it situations, when you’re cheerful, even when you’re forcing yourself to be, you’ll notice others respond positively to you. Before you know it, your good attitude will have shifted the gathering’s entire atmosphere and everyone will be having a good time.