Some noteworthy New Laws in California for 2011

• Non–Vehicle Code infractions can now be dismissed under PC 1203.4a.  This is the remedy commonly known as expungement.
• The threshold for felony grand theft increased from $400 to $950.
• “Petty theft with a prior” is now, unless the defendant has a strike or sex offense prior, “petty theft with three priors.”  
• Marijuana possession, less than an ounce, is now an infraction.
• Limited immunity from prosecution for certain low-grade alcohol-related offenses granted to persons under the age of 21 who are reporting that they or someone else are in need of medical assistance.

A Public Place

In my practice I am often asked "what is considered a "public place"?" (i.e., in terms of where the police can enter without a warrant, and whether you are considered in public under the definitions of certain misdemeanors like "public intoxication" and "minor in possession"). The following is an excerpt from the recent Krohn case (cited below) which gives some guidance on this case by case inquiry:

"The term “public place” generally means “a location readily accessible to all those who wish to go there … .” People v. Perez (1976) 64 Cal. App. 3d 297, 301. The key consideration is whether a member of the public can access the place “without challenge.” People v. Olson (1971) 18 Cal. App. 3d 592, 598. Thus, the Olson court considered a house's front yard to be a public place because “defendant, a complete stranger to [the homeowner], was able to walk through the outside area of her home to the front door without challenge.” In contrast, a location guarded by a fence or locked door is not readily accessible to the public, and is not a public place. In People v. White (1991) 227 Cal. App. 3d 886, the court refused to deem another house's front yard a public place because it was “surrounded by a three-and-a-half foot-high fence with a gate which was unlocked at the time.” (Id. at p. 892.) It noted “the fence, gate, and [three pet] dogs all provided challenge to public access.” (Ibid.) And an interior hallway of an apartment building was considered to be a public place because “[t]here were no locked gates or doors to keep the public from entering” it. (Perez, supra, 64 Cal. App. 3d at p. 301." People v. Krohn, (Cal. Ct. App. 2007) 149 Cal. App. 4th 1294, 1298-1299.

If you don't want random people, including police officers (whether you consider them "random" or not), snooping around your yard, balconies and other outdoor places on your property, and don't want you or your guest to be arrestable for public intoxication and/or minor in possession in these areas, you should enclose these areas with a fence. It doesn't have to be a tall fence, nor even locked, per White. Dogs and "No solicitors"/"No Trespassing" signs may present these legal cognizable "challenges" to unwanted intruders, however, it seems the only clear way to protect these areas from being considered a public place is to fence them in. I will say this: I'd feel more "challenged" by a rottweiler than a 3 and half foot fence.

The truth about upside-down beer cups

My first Sierra Mountain blog (delivered at approximately 8,000 feet) is to disabuse the Daily Nexus readership of the IV urban myth that walking with a drinking cup upside-down will prevent your arrest for open container, minor in possession and/or drunk in public. This myth is perpetuated by the Daily Nexus which states, among other things, that mouthing off to the Isla Vista Foot Patrol is a bad idea. Ya' think? Walking down an Isla Vista street with anything other than a nun's habit is enough to put you at high risk of being detained by a bored member of the Foot Patrol. Having an upside-down beer cup puts you in an even higher risk category. The moral of the story is: don't walk down the street in IV expecting that the cop who spots you in an 'I'm looking for my next beer' pose will not likely detain you for a sniff and an age and ID check at the very least. Oh, but I agree that mouthing off is a bad idea - and it's no urban myth.