Contact visits with clients and attorneys is the rule rather than the exception in Ventura County

Defending drug sale or possession for sale cases requires unique criminal defense skills. Schwartz & Powell has defended drug dealing cases with great success over the years.

Steven D. Powell, one of the best defense lawyers in Ventura County, has varied and extensive experience in corporate criminal defense.

Robert I. Schwartz and Steven D. Powell of Schwartz & Powell are two of the best Ventura County Criminal Defense Lawyers. We also represent clients in Orange, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara Counties, in the federal courts and out of state

I have defended fraud and white collar crimes for some thirty years. I also prosecuted these cases when I was in the Ventura County DA’s Office.

The Ventura County Law Partnership of Schwartz Powell defends against DUI charges in the cities of Ventura, Oxnard, Fillmore, Santa Paula, Ojai, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks, Westlake and throughout Ventura County.

Ventura and Oxnard will issue hundreds of red-light camera tickets in 2013, and raising significant revenue doing s

This year city police agencies, the CA Highway Patrol and the Ventura County Sheriff's Office participated in checkpoints throughout Ventura County during the July 4th weekend.

Schwartz & Powell are Ventura lawyers who defend against all BUI and DUI charges.

Voters in California nearly succeeded in abolishing the death penalty in 2012. Yet, in the wake of the narrow defeat of Prop 34 a bill has been introduced to bring back the gas chamber in California.

You should never drink too much and drive a vehicle. If you do you may find yourself directed into a holiday checkpoint or you may be arrested if the police notice erratic driving patterns or any sign that you may be behind the wheel drunk

Oxnard and Ventura police periodically set up DUI checkpoints. At the checkpoint police officers talk to drivers looking for signs of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs

On any weekend night don’t be surprised to have a police officer stop you at a roadblock to chat with you about your recreational activities and whether you are driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The District Attorney will need to prove his case, using the information supplied by the police. The proof of DUI is contained in five factual categories

Beginning December 14th, 2012, there was a countywide crackdown on DUI drivers in Ventura County. 106 drivers were arrested so far during the winter holiday as law enforcement set up checkpoints in the county and many others on the highways. During the holidays especially the police are looking for any sign of drug or alcohol impairment in drivers.

Schwartz Powell has an unparalleled record of success defending Ventura County DUI cases. You can't win drunk driving cases if you don't try them and Schwartz & Powell tries them when they need to be tried.

Schwartz & Powell, the most experienced and accomplished homicide or murder criminal defense lawyers in Ventura County, have done it again.

Robert I. "Bobby" Schwartz's client was found not guilty of murder in the first degree when so charged along with a gang special allegation. His client was facing life in prison without possibility of parole.

DUI defense requires knowledge and training your ordinary family lawyer may not have. For example, the validity of BAC tests is not necessarily shown by the results shown on breath testing devices. These individuals need the services of the best Ventura criminal defense lawyer they can find.

California’s death penalty will be abolished by a Yes vote on Proposition 34 in November. Proposition 34 imposes life without parole for first degree murder. Those urging the abolition of the death penalty include social progressives but a growing number of fiscal conservatives joined the fight against the death penalty in favor of Proposition 34.

The dirty little truth about plea bargaining is this: innocent people plead guilty to charges for which they are not actually guilty so as to avoid the risk of greater sentences should they be convicted at trial. People’s risk tolerance can trigger a surrender syndrome causing them to plead guilty merely to get out of jail in a reasonable time.

It might be time to reconsider "decriminalizing" carrying concealed weapons in Ventura County and throughout California. Many other states, such as Arizona, have far more liberal gun laws than California.

At the present time, it is a crime to carry a concealed weapon, for example, a handgun. Only Peace Officers, military on base when required and those who have a Carrying Concealed Weapon or "CCW" Permit may do so. And those permits are few and far between (although not impossible to get for really good reasons).

Any Ventura County criminal defense lawyer knows it costs a fortune to prosecute death penalty cases. I knew this when I was a Deputy District Attorney for Ventura County prosecuting capital murder. Nothing defending death penalty cases has changed my mind.

What I would like you to think about today is the cost of the death penalty system in California. It costs a lot of money the State can't afford.

On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress issued its unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America. This document is a revolutionary manifesto declaring the causes impelling the colonists—our forefathers and foremothers—to wage a bloody revolution against England on American soil.

This was the birth of American democracy.

Many crimes occur on the Fourth of July. Just like Superbowl Sunday, the Fourth entices with way too much beer at too many parties and way too much driving automobiles in between.

Ventura County criminal defense lawyers with any substantial experience realize, when the proof is there, a defendant should know about and consider plea bargaining. Not every criminal charge should go to trial.

Ventura County lawyers are uniquely positioned to honor the memories of all who have fallen in defense of their country, their brothers and sisters at arms, and their U.S. Constitution.

Jim Morrison of the Doors would be the last person in the world to teach Driver Safety Classes but for all his issues his lyric perfectly states what a driver’s duty is--pay attention.

Inattentive driving will have you talking to a Ventura County criminal defense lawyer faster than you can say “reckless driving …driving under the influence . .. vehicular manslaughter or murder.”

Spring is here and summer nears. We should all have a lot of fun at the beaches, lakes, mountains and deserts near Ventura. But be careful. Drunkenly and recklessly causing any injury of significance could easily elevate too much sun and wine into a prison case. California criminal law is full of pitfalls for the unwary.

Spring is here and summer nears. We should all have a lot of fun at the beaches, lakes, mountains and deserts near Ventura. But be careful. Drunkenly and recklessly causing any injury of significance could easily elevate too much sun and wine into a prison case. California criminal law is full of pitfalls for the unwary.

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution used to prohibit unreasonable search and seizures. The present United States Supreme Court seems not to understand this fundamental principle of constitutional and procedural criminal law.

The State of Virgina recently hit an all time low in criminalizing a woman's constitutional right to obtain an abortion.

Criminal defense lawyers are worth their weight in gold depending upon their weight and the price of gold at any given moment.

If you have warrants out for your arrest, the only advice a responsible criminal law lawyer can give you is “Clean them up." For many reasons surrender is your most advisable option.

Schwartz & Powell defends many Ventura fraud criminal cases because of our long and successful history as Ventura’s preeminent criminal defense lawyers. But we also represent defendants and plaintiffs in civil cases for money damages arising from allegations of fraud and sharp dealing.

Almost if not all licensed drivers in the State of California and Ventura have committed a variety of minor Vehicle Code infractions. These violations range from illegal lane changes, speeding a few miles over the speed limit, rolling through a stop sign in the fabled “California stop,” to violations such as failure to yield, passing unlawfully and a big fine violation of blocking an intersection while making a left hand turn. Ordinarily, if one is guilty of these offenses, one pays a fine and suffers a few points added to his or her license for DMV purposes. There is no probation, jail or criminal fine above that for the ticket itself. These offenses are infractions of interest to DMV, your insurer, your employer if you drive as part of your job.

Ventura DUI defense lawyers at Schwartz & Powell and throughout the county now face a new special prosecution unit within the DA’s Office. The State of California recently approved a special DUI grant to the DA’s office of slightly under $400,000.00 to fund two drunk driving prosecutors, support staff and ancillary costs, such as training and other support.

The United States Supreme Court recently said warrantless GPS tracking of a cocaine dealer is a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure. They reversed his conviction because in this drug case the motion to suppress evidence properly should have been granted. The evidence was obtained through secretly tracking the dealer with a GPS device law enforcement planted under the dealer’s automobile. The court in U.S. v. Jones decided 9-0 that GPS tracking requires a warrant.

The old Abbot and Costello “Who’s on First . . .” comedy bit is a riot. Regrettably it is all too true for Ventura criminal defense lawyers who must fight wrongful identification testimony and citizens wrongfully accused of and then convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. Any case depending on eyewitness identification depends on the witnesses’ ability to perceive, to recollect and to relate his or her observations accurately; and from time to time the examination of such witnesses does sound a bit like the Abbot and Costello routine. But it is not so funny when one’s life or liberty or fortune hangs in the balance. This type of evidence is notoriously unreliable. Any experienced Ventura lawyer knows this.

Many years ago most juvenile crimes were not severely punished.

Sexual Assault cases/Domestic Violence cases in Ventura County are prosecute by a highly-trained and talented pool of lawyers.

All this is possible because the Prosecution has police chemists who routinely testify that a driver’s blood alcohol is above .08 and the driver is therefore impaired or Driving Under the Influence (DUI).

If a a crime is committed by a targeted group of African Americans or Hispanic youths who associate with or become members of a "criminal gang" the alleged offender is often looking at more jail or prison time - and it can be decades - than an offender not so affiliated or associated.

I just read in the paper 254 folks were arrested for DUI over the past 17 days in Ventura County. I’m sorry to hear that the New Year now necessarily will include quickly contacting, especially within the first ten (10) days of your arrest, a criminal defense lawyer experienced in DUI and vehicular crimes defense. Schwartz & Powell is the firm to call to ease your pain.