Homicides

The most serious charges in the criminal justice system demand the most thorough defense.

No case carries higher stakes than a homicide prosecution. In California, a murder conviction can carry a sentence of 15 or 25 years to life, or more, and manslaughter and vehicular homicide charges carry long prison terms of their own. Prosecutors devote enormous resources to these cases – homicide detectives, crime-scene investigators, forensic pathologists, and experienced trial attorneys – and the defense must be prepared to meet that effort at every step.

Homicide cases frequently turn on questions far more nuanced than who was responsible. Was it self-defense, or defense of another? Was the death an accident? What was the person’s mental state – and does the evidence support murder rather than manslaughter? California law has also changed significantly in recent years: reforms to the felony-murder rule and related doctrines narrowed when a person can be convicted of murder for a killing they did not personally commit, and created a path for resentencing some people convicted under the old rules.

IredaleRoth has significant experience defending homicide cases, including at trial. In one ongoing matter, the Firm obtained a “not guilty” verdict on a count of first-degree murder, and obtained dismissal of the conviction on second-degree murder due to the prosecution’s conduct during the trial. In another matter, we successfully stopped the transfer of a juvenile accused of homicide to “adult court,” and thereafter resolved the case on favorable terms. In a recent case brought in federal court, we defended someone whom the Government wanted to charge with a death-penalty offense and resolved the case on significantly reduced charges. We have successfully defended people accused of homicide, including in death-penalty cases, in multiple state and federal cases. 

Anyone facing a homicide investigation or charge will often confront these issues:

• Early investigation is critical. Witness memories fade and physical evidence can be lost. A defense team that begins its own investigation immediately – interviewing witnesses, preserving evidence, and retaining independent experts – is often in a far stronger position.

• The degree of the offense is frequently the central fight. The difference between first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and manslaughter can mean decades of a person’s life, and it often depends on contested questions of intent and provocation.

• Forensic evidence must be tested, not accepted. Autopsy findings, ballistics, DNA, cell-phone location data, and digital evidence all rest on assumptions and methods that can be challenged by qualified experts.