Los Angeles sex crime news can be extremely disconcerting, whether you're a parent of young children, a concerned citizen, or even a “fellow” Los Angeles lewd conduct defendant. ![severt-lewd-conduct-southern-california.jpg]()
As we've emphasized before on this blog, the spectrum of sex crime defendants is vast. Just because a police officer arrested you at a bathroom for having consensual sexual relations doesn't mean you're anywhere "at the same level" as some other sex offenders.
In that context, let’s consider the sad story of 53-year-old hand surgeon, Dr. Raymond Severt, a doctor from Santa Rosa who faces felony charges for texting a local girl sexually explicit messages. According to allegations, he text messaged a 13-year-old girl from nearby Novato and arranged a meeting with her. To his surprise, he wound up meeting up with local police instead, who arrested him and charged him with attempted lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14. He also faces a battery of misdemeanors, including attempt to contact a minor with the intent of committing a sexual offense and attempting to annoy or molest a child under age 18.
This case is obviously very unfortunate.
Whether or not the allegations prove correct, almost all of us have visceral reactions when we read accounts like this. If you've been charged with one of the “lower end of the spectrum” lewd conduct Los Angeles charges -- like getting caught at an X-rated theater in Hollywood (like Nick Stahl or Fred Willard recently did) -- then you'd likely be offended to be classified with this class of offender. Unfortunately, many people -- even family members and friends and associates who should be sympathetic -- won’t make the distinction between what you've been charged with and what the "worst offenders" have been charged with.
Your first step is to develop a rigorous, thorough understanding of your charges and then to create battle plan to meet those charges compassionately and effectively.
The team here at the Kraut Law Group can help you. Mr. Kraut is a former prosecutor who has tremendous amount of experience on both sides of cases like yours. He and his white collar defense team in Los Angeles would be happy to give you a free consultation and work towards developing a right-minded defense.
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As we've emphasized before on this blog, the spectrum of sex crime defendants is vast. Just because a police officer arrested you at a bathroom for having consensual sexual relations doesn't mean you're anywhere "at the same level" as some other sex offenders.
In that context, let’s consider the sad story of 53-year-old hand surgeon, Dr. Raymond Severt, a doctor from Santa Rosa who faces felony charges for texting a local girl sexually explicit messages. According to allegations, he text messaged a 13-year-old girl from nearby Novato and arranged a meeting with her. To his surprise, he wound up meeting up with local police instead, who arrested him and charged him with attempted lewd and lascivious acts with a child under the age of 14. He also faces a battery of misdemeanors, including attempt to contact a minor with the intent of committing a sexual offense and attempting to annoy or molest a child under age 18.
This case is obviously very unfortunate.
Whether or not the allegations prove correct, almost all of us have visceral reactions when we read accounts like this. If you've been charged with one of the “lower end of the spectrum” lewd conduct Los Angeles charges -- like getting caught at an X-rated theater in Hollywood (like Nick Stahl or Fred Willard recently did) -- then you'd likely be offended to be classified with this class of offender. Unfortunately, many people -- even family members and friends and associates who should be sympathetic -- won’t make the distinction between what you've been charged with and what the "worst offenders" have been charged with.
Your first step is to develop a rigorous, thorough understanding of your charges and then to create battle plan to meet those charges compassionately and effectively.
The team here at the Kraut Law Group can help you. Mr. Kraut is a former prosecutor who has tremendous amount of experience on both sides of cases like yours. He and his white collar defense team in Los Angeles would be happy to give you a free consultation and work towards developing a right-minded defense.
As you are no doubt aware, after you get arrested and charged according to California Vehicle Code Section 23152 (a) or 23152 (b) -- or per the injury DUI CVC Sections 23153 (a) or 23153 (b) -- you need to act quickly, strategically, and decisively to protect your rights.
You may only have days, for instance, to contest the suspension of your California driver's license. Evidence that could help exonerate the Long Beach DUI defendant -- or at least make the prosecution’s case more challenging -- may disappear or be forgotten.
So you need to get "on it" quickly. But the person whom you love -- who faces the charges -- is acting maddeningly nonchalant. Perhaps he or she has yet even to consult with a 
Florida v. Jardines an issue of whether homes are subject to a higher Fourth Amendment standard than automobiles in traffic, luggage being sniffed on a conveyer belt, packages being sniffed at a package delivery service, or other moving or movable objects. The Supreme Court has upheld the warrantless use of drug dogs in those cases, but have granted greater protections to the privacy of the home, prohibiting police from using such measures as thermal imaging equipment to detect drug grow operations.
The courts have determined that one does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in contraband. However, warrantless intrusion via listening devices, thermal imaging, and now drug dog sniffs, has been found to require a warrant in order to be conducted. The problem with cases like these involving drug dog sniffs is the reliability of the sniff. Drug dogs, even though specially trained for a purpose, are still dogs. Dogs get excited and will alert to things like tennis balls in trunks and animals in the vicinity. Even highly trained drug dogs still only smell “contraband”. This does not necessarily mean that drugs are present. Faint odors may remain when no contraband exists. Legal Incense is sold that smells like marijuana. A drug dog will alert falsely and police will invade because of legal activity like burning incense that causes a legal smell.
The Court must consider the totality of the circumstances in determining whether probable cause to conduct a warrantless search is sufficient, and any fact that bears on a dog's reliability as a detector of the presence of drugs will come within the review of the courts.
Furthermore, the location of the search is crucial to whether the search is legal under the 4th Amendment. Under the 4th amendment, if the police have exigent circumstances, or circumstances that would show that evidence of criminal activity could be removed or destroyed quickly, the police may conduct a search without a warrant. However, one has a reasonable expectation of privacy from government intrusion in one’s home. This means that police may not enter one’s home without a warrant if they do not have probable cause. In Jardines, the State claimed police had probable cause because of the police dog’s alerting to the smell of contraband. As discussed above, smell does not mean contraband.
In a case involving an illegal search of one’s home without a valid search warrant, a motion to suppress the evidence found is the only thing that forces law enforcement to adhere to the Constitution, by making sure that if the search is not done correctly, the evidence will be excluded, leaving the State with no case.
If one obtains an 
