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Spring 2009
DEFENDANT CHARGED WITH ARSON AND DESTRUCTION OF FORREST IN LAGUNA BEACH
Posted Spring 2009
A local man who was charged for lighting a fire which consumed a large area of wooded area in Fullerton plead guilty to a lesser charge of vandalism yesterday in the Central Justice Center. The Defendant had been facing three counts of Arson, Arson to an uninhabited building and Arson to a Forrest or Wooded Area. The prosecution had been seeking up to 7 years in State Prison.
Orange County Criminal Defense Attorney Dyke Huish, who represented the defendant, had argued before the Court that while the fire may have been started by the defendant they did not constitute arson.
"This was an unusual situation where this man was distraught due to unforeseeable changes in his life. The fires were not set with the intent to burn anything but rather to stay warm." Huish said. "This is misdemeanor conduct at best." The Court agreed and defendant was given time served and a Misdemeanor.
Wind had been blamed for the increased flames and no one was injured.
DEFENDANT CHARGED WITH ASSAULTING TEEN IN BAR FIGHT.
Posted: January 2010
A Laguna Niguel plead guilty to reduced charges stemming from a bar fight in Newport Beach. The victim was a teenage boy that had used a false identification to gain access into the bar. When the fight broke out the Defendant hit the victim in the face with a glass resulting in serious injury. The victim received over thirty stitches to his face and required extensive plastic surgery to repair injuries sustained in the fight.
The fight occurred just after midnight. The victim was taken by ambulance to Hoag Hospital. His injuries were reported as serious with a large portion of his face having been severed. He is reported to be making a recovery.
The Orange County District Attorney's Office filed Felony Assualt Charges which included , Assault with a Deadly Weapon and the Great Bodily Injury enhancement. The charges carried a potential 8 years in State Prison.
Defense Attorney Dyke Huish said of his client "This is a fine up standing young man who found himself in the middle of a full on brawl. He never sought out the problem or created the problem."
After three months of litigation the Court sentenced the Defendant to Probation and 120 days. The District Attorney's Office had requested 5 years. Mr. Huish requested his client be allowed to serve his time in a Private Jail as a Trustee. The Court granted this request and the Defendant was allowed sixty days to confirm his acceptance into the Anaheim City Jail program.
"I have seen a great number of assault cases. But in nearly 17 years of practicing criminal law, I have never seen a injury as bad as this one. But my client was a good man in a bad situation and I am pleased the Court saw it our way and gave him probation."
Troubled US starlet Lindsay Lohan said Thursday she would never steal, a day after she pleaded not guilty to the theft of a $2,500 necklace from a Los Angeles jewellery store.
The 24-year-old actress told followers on her Twitter account that she had not been brought up to be dishonest -- and also lamented "absurd" press comment about a tight-fitting dress she wore to court on Wednesday.
"I would never steal, in case people are wondering. I was not raised to lie, cheat, or steal," said Lohan, who was released on bail after her latest brush with the law, but warned she could face jail if she breaks the law again.
"Also, what I wear to court shouldn't be front page news. It's just absurd. God bless xox L," she said, in reference to the clingy shot white dress she wore to court.
Lohan, who completed a court-ordered spell in rehab for drug addiction last month, allegedly walked out of the jewellery store in Venice Beach -- the seafront area of LA where she lives -- with the gold necklace on January 22.
The actress, who is on probation for a 2007 drunk driving offense, could face up to three years in jail if convicted on the grand theft charge.
She checked out of the Betty Ford clinic near Palm Springs last month, following a spell there after she was briefly jailed in September for failing a court-ordered drug test.
Lohan was sentenced in July to serve 90 days in jail and another 90 days in rehab for violating her probation in a drunk-driving case. But due to jail overcrowding, she served just 13 days before being freed to the detox facility.
A queen of Hollywood nights and a favorite target of the paparazzi, the former Disney child star was once considered one of the most promising actresses of her generation.
But Lohan's career has dipped many times since 2005 amid legal woes, visits to rehab and movie flops.
In 2007, she spent just 84 minutes in jail after police arrested her twice for cocaine possession while driving -- in one instance crashing her Mercedes-Benz into a tree.
In 2008, the "Parent Trap" star received two Razzie Awards, the satirical prizes presented to Hollywood's worst acting performances.
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