Ray Hrdlicka – Host – Attorneys.Media
“Frequently, what we find out, is that the probation officer doesn’t even come into play until they get before a Judge, and the Judge singularly makes the decision. And then I can usually bail the person. It’s quite surprising, actually. Does that depend upon, whether or not, the underlying crime is serious or not?”
Andrew Dósa – Criminal Defense Attorney – Alameda County, CA
“Well, that certainly is going to have an influence over the case…the seriousness of the case. The more serious the case, the easier it is for the Judge to assume that the person should stay on ‘ice’, stay in-custody. And by ‘ice’, I don’t mean immigration but just that they’re put on hold and left where they are. The Judge’s general approach is that it will all come out eventually. Depending upon which county, which court procedures there are in place. Some counties, like San Mateo, the Judges are almost always making the decisions, and they won’t even have the District Attorney involved in resolving how the case should go in terms of a sentence. The District Attorney’s office will sit back and let the Judge decide. That’s disadvantageous for the defendant’s attorney because I want to be able to talk with the District Attorney as frequently as I need to…to get the kind of results that I want.
If the Judge is the only one, I am only going to get, typically, one chance at that Judge. If I can’t get the Judge to move where I want them at that first case review hearing, if that’s how they call it, it’s not likely that I am going to get a second bite at the apple, and the Judge is going to change his or her mind. And if one Judge makes a proposed sentence, there are very few situations where another Judge will come in and say ‘I just don’t agree with my fellow colleague on the bench’. They almost always follow what the notes are in that file.”
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