Lompoc, CA Criminal Defense Law Firms & Lawyers

The victim's testimony is evidence. You may think it is not true, but that is for a judge or jury to decide. If they believe the victim, then you can be found guilty. The case is not without evidence, just evidence with which you disagree.

California Penal Code section 245 covers the charges of Assault By Means Likely to Produce Great Bodily Injury ("GBI") AND Assault With a Deadly Weapon ("ADW"). The Assault crime where GBI was actually inflicted on a victim is a strike and always has been. Assault simply by "MEANS Likely to Produce" GBI, but where GBI was not actually inflicted, was not (and still is not) a strike. However, ADW, where the defendant PERSONALLY possessed the deadly weapon (not an accomplice) was added as a strike after the law went into effect. Many times, though, authorities (DA, CDC, etc.) will simply go back and claim a P.C. 245 conviction is a strike, without actually confirming whether the facts (and what was actually pled to) satisfies the requirements to be a strike. You can challenge this distinction, depending on whether it is a CDC designation, or a DA alleges it as a strike.