I’ve spent decades in the trenches of criminal defense as a private investigator. I’ve worked shoulder to shoulder with some of the sharpest legal minds to ever walk into a courtroom-and a few who should’ve stuck to traffic tickets. From them, I learned the law not in a classroom, but on the battlefield, where freedom hangs by a thread and the stakes are life-altering. No, I’m not a lawyer. Maybe that’s because I’ve been having too much damn fun digging up the truth, shredding bad police work, and watching DA cases fall apart under the weight of their own arrogance. This blog is about a rare and reckless breed: the pro per criminal defendant—the lone wolves who choose to defend themselves against felony charges without a lawyer. Bold? Maybe. Suicidal? Sometimes. Recently, I took on a new role under contract with the Los Angeles County Superior Court. For once, they waved enough cash under my nose to pull me in. The twist? I’m now appointed to cases defending men and women accused of...

Los Angeles, CA-- Due process and our dubious criminal justice system is really not doing well.   Exonerations are on the rise as exhaustive post conviction investigations expose police, crime lab or prosecutorial misconduct.  It takes decades to expose wrongful convictions as these victims rot in our prisons.  This is not about reducing the penalties that criminals deserve.  This is about pure and simple justice and fairness.   Prosecutors have been given excessive powers in recent years that they nearly always abuse.  Juries almost never hear about the checkered backgrounds of witnesses and so-called victims.  The backgrounds of the accused however are nearly always disclosed.   We routinely convict people in circumstantial cases where the jury guesses guilt or innocence.   If a jury has to guess, that should dictate an acquittal but that’s just not how it works.   I have worked with the best and worst la...

Compton, CA —I was simply curious as to why cops charged Rap mogul,  Marion “ Shug” Knight with Murder, Attempted Murder and two counts of fleeing the Scene of an Accident. Just what was the crime here I wondered?   I carefully watched the news reports and understood at least I think may have happened.   I also went to the scene at daybreak looked for surveillance cameras, took photos and overhead drone video of that Tam’s Burgers drive in where this happened. Even at daybreak Tam’s was open for business.   On a Friday night this place is jumping and the small parking lot is always congested. Very simply some kind of argument broke out and Knight who was inside of his truck and clearly wanted to escape from Tam’s Burgers. Knight has been shot and wounded on at least three occasions.   He was also in the car with Tupac Shakur when he was murdered in Las Vegas.   What I can’t help but notice, is that Knight never seems to have a gun but he’s...