What are Gang Crimes?

Gang crimes are crimes committed for a gang or to promote, further, or assist a gang’s criminal conduct. A conviction for a crime falling in this category will significantly increase punishment and can include, but is not limited to increased prison time, increase probation supervision (restricted from wearing certain colors, who you talk to, and more.) It is very important to hire an attorney right away to fight gang crime charges.

Penal Code section 186.22 is the code section used most often to charge our clients with gang crimes. Gang related crimes can be charged as either a substantive crime, such as participating in a criminal street gang, or as an enhancement. A gang crime enhancement will increase any crime to a felony if that crime was committed for the purpose of assisting a criminal street gang.

How Can Fiumara & Milligan Help?

We can appear in court with you or for you. In most cases, we can appear in court for you, so you don’t have to miss work, school, OR family. We will make all court appearances and call you that very same day to give you a report. The amount of time it takes to resolve a case depends on the circumstances, but on average it takes about 2 to 3 months to resolve a case. If you end up going to trial, it can take even more time. Keep in mind, each case is different and there is no one size fits all.

What are Potential Defenses?

There are many defenses to a gang crime charge. Whether a defense applies in your case depends on the facts and witnesses (if any.)

Crime was not committed to assist a gang.Many times we have seen our clients charged with gang crimes solely based on the fact they are from Mexico and were wearing the alleged “gang colors” or either red or blue. Wearing the color red or blue is not enough to convict you of a gang crime. There must be more than just wearing one of these colors to be guilty of a gang crime and we will fight for you.

Crime was not committed to assist a gang. Unfortunately, your past will follow you. What we often see here at Fiumara & Milligan Law, PC, is that if you have a prior history of being in a gang, no matter what the current charge is, the district attorney will charge you with committing a crime for the purpose of assisting, promoting, or furthering the interests of a criminal street gang. Often there is not enough proof of this and we will defend you against these charges and now how to!

No crime was committed! Often, if you have a record of admitting that you were in a gang, officers will scrutinize you more than others. This can lead to situations where no crime was committed, but he officer or officers don’t like you, so they’ll hassle you by charging you with a crime anyways. Many of our clients feel like they just can’t win because of their record, so will settle a case instead of fighting it. Don’t do it! If you didn’t commit the crime, then you should not do the time.

What is the Fee?

In most cases we charge a flat fee for our criminal defense cases. We will have to meet with you either in person or by telephone for a ½ hour free consultation, to discuss your case and assess the potential defenses in your case in light of the facts. Our flat fee covers all appearances, motion work and more. There are no hidden fees and we will communicate with you at times.

Call Us Today at 707-571-8600 for IMMEDIATE HELP!