San Francisco Criminal Defense Attorney Blog

Paris Hilton is facing felony drug charges after being arrested over the weekend in Las Vegas on suspicion of cocaine possession. On Monday, prosecutors in Nevada charged Hilton with possession of a controlled substance. Hilton was released from jail on Saturday morning and returned to California. She is scheduled to be arraigned on October 27.

Hilton, 29, was arrested on Friday night along with Cy Waits, 34. According to CNN, Waits is a "Las Vegas nightclub mogul" and rumored to be Hilton's boyfriend. Police pulled over Waits' Cadillac Escalade after pulling up alongside it and smelling marijuana. Police arrested Waits for DUI after he failed field sobriety tests.

Lawmakers around the country are scrambling to keep sex crime laws up-to-date with current technology. The practice of 'sexting' among teens, for example, has been popping up in schools around the U.S. and prosecutors, defense attorneys, parents, and school officials are trying to decide how best to deal with the behavior. Sexting involves sending nude or semi-nude photos between cell phones. Sexting among teens might occur between couples or could be a form of harassment or bullying -- or a combination.

When the practice first began, the offense usually fell under existing child pornography laws, but most involved felt those charges to be overly harsh in most teen sexting incidents. A juvenile found guilty of child pornography or a related serious sex crime could face prison time and sex offender status.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox ordered Lindsay Lohan's early release from an inpatient rehabilitation center on Tuesday. Lohan will face strict supervised probation, but will be able to continue working. The "Parent Trap" star spent 14 days of a 90-day sentence in jail for violating the terms of her DUI probation and afterwards was taken to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center to undergo alcohol and drug rehabilitation.

At a hearing Wednesday, Fox laid out the terms of the early release. Lohan will have to attend psychotherapy and addiction counseling sessions several times a week. She will also have to submit to random alcohol and drug testing at least twice a week. Fox dismissed the two drug charges that Lohan pleaded guilty to in 2007 and said that he would take her off supervised parole if she attended every counseling session and did not fail any alcohol or drug tests.

Another lawsuit has been brought against the U.S. Catholic Church accusing the church establishment of facilitating the sexual molestation of several children by failing to turn an allegedly known sexual offender into authorities. Six women and one man filed the latest lawsuit in Oakland, California.

The plaintiffs allege that Father Stephen Kiesle sexually abused them between 1972 and 2001. They also accuse the Catholic Church of knowing of Kiesle's alleged sex crimes against children, but failing to stop him. The plaintiffs accuse Kiesle of sexually abusing them throughout childhood and adolescence. One of the women says that Kiesle sexually abused her until she was in her late 30s.

Another lawsuit was recently brought against USA Swimming alleging that the organization did not do enough to prevent the alleged sexual abuse of a teenage swimmer by her coach. This is the fifth such lawsuit to be brought against the team and was filed by former Olympic-hopeful Jancy Thompson.

Thompson says she was sexually abused by her swim coach, Norm Havercroft, starting at age 15, four years after he began coaching her. Havercroft is also named in the suit. The suit also names the club in San Jose where she practiced, West Valley, and the regional organization of USA Swimming that operated her club, Pacific Swimming.

Three U.S. men who were sexually abused by priests as children and had brought a lawsuit against the Vatican in 2004 accusing the Holy See of liability for the clergy sex crimes decided to drop the lawsuit on Monday. The plaintiff's decision was a victory for the Vatican who has argued that there is no basis for the lawsuit.

The lawyer for the plaintiffs asked a federal district court in Louisville, Kentucky, to dismiss the case. The lawyer for the plaintiffs in dismissing the case basically admitted that the lawsuit had no chance in court, which he said was because the U.S. courts have placed an impossible burden of proof on the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit claimed that the Vatican was responsible for sex crimes committed by its priests in the U.S. because they allegedly allowed priests they knew had committed sex crimes to continue working by transferring them to different diocese and, in that way, contributed to continued sex abuse.

Detectives looking into allegations of domestic violence brought against Mel Gibson by his ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva, have said that they are almost ready to present the results of their investigation to prosecutors. Grigorieva accused Gibson of domestic violence and child endangerment in connection with an incident that occurred earlier this year.

According to the Los Angeles Times, officials in the sheriff's department will present their evidence to L.A. County prosecutors in two weeks. Prosecutors will then decide whether there is sufficient evidence to move forward in the process and pursue charges against Gibson. 

As reported in earlier posts, investigators are also looking into counter-charges that Grigorieva or her sister attempted to extort Gibson in exchange for keeping the domestic violence allegations quiet. Grigorieva made secret recordings of private phone arguments between herself and Gibson during their break-up and subsequent volatile child custody battle.

Charlie Sheen pleaded guilty Monday to misdemeanor third-degree assault in connection with a domestic violence incident with his wife on Christmas Day 2009 in Aspen, Colorado. In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop the more serious charges of felony menacing and criminal mischief. Sheen was sentenced to 30 days in a rehabilitation center in California, 30 days of probation, and 36 hours of anger management classes.

Sheen and Mueller's accounts differed as to what happened when a Christmas Day argument escalated into domestic violence. Mueller told police that Sheen had put a knife to her throat and threatened her life. Sheen denied threatening Mueller and said he had become upset after Mueller threatened to divorce him. Both have since undergone alcohol rehabilitation and are reportedly sober. They have also reconciled. Mueller supported the plea agreement.