Category: Blog Post

Mr. Officer you need one of those warrants if you are going to look in there. Today the United States decided the cases of Riley v. California. Like many individuals stopped by the police, Mr. Riley had his cell phone searched without a warrant. The police searched the...

Lawyers and clients both must work hard at maintaining their professional relationship.
In criminal cases, clients usually feel the same mental and emotional strain as a patient who is seriously ill. Especially in federal cases, where the stakes are so high, or serious state cases such as murder, sexual offenses, or cyber crime,...

I just got back from a vacation.  Yes, a vacation for me is taking three days off, driving 500 miles to go fishing, worrying about my clients, putting out a fishing line, catching no fish, worrying more about my clients, and coming home wondering why I didn't stay away longer.  As I...

On February 5, 2013 federal defense attorney Russell Babcock argued what is probably the most important blind mule case in many years to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Pasadena, California. Russell will reserve comment on the case until the the three judge panel has a chance to issue their written...

M.S. admitted from the beginning that robbed the cell phone. But he denied ever using a handgun during the robbery. The victim did not tell the 911 operator that a gun had been put in his face, but he  told this to the jury during the three week trial last week in...

San Diego Criminal Defense Attorneys Russell Babcock and  his office acheived what Russell characterized as the most lenient sentence that he has ever seen in a federal alien smuggling case. Last week in the United States District Court Southern District of California, S.R. was sentenced to only time served,...

While many Americans are aware from the news media of every new haircut Justin Bieber gets or the sex of Kim Kardashian's baby, few Americans are aware of the more important revelations in the press in the last week. The FBI has been secretly harvesting data from our  email...

1.5 kilos of methamphetamine and no jail time! V.R was stopped along the Interstate 15 corridor where agents encountered 1.5 kilos of methamphetamine in her purse. It is curious how the agents call the major freeway I-15 a “corridor” —sounds kind of spooky– I always thought I-15 was just...

It makes you wonder what took the Obama administration five years to wake up. Attorney General Eric Holder announced this week that he will ask his Assistant United States Attorneys ( prosecutors) to not specify the amount of drugs in drug charges for low level drug dealers who are...

Every week at the San Ysidro-Tijuana border, the busiest border in the world, agents seize many kilos of methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin that is hidden in cars. The majority of the drivers know of the presence of the contraband. They are usually paid by other individuals a few hundred to a few...

Suppose for a minute that you live in San Diego, California. Someone in your family has just been arrested for a serious federal drug crime, importation of methamphetamine, “crystal,” into the United States at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. So what do you do? Not everyone has a...

An unfortunate reality of practicing federal criminal law in San Diego is that one of the factors that still influences a defendant's sentence the most is which District Court Judge is assigned to the case. Unlike state court which permits a defendant to disqualify one judge, the federal judge assigned to the...