Welcome to the Law Office of Christopher Martens – I will fight for your rights.

Call Christopher Martens the Criminal Defense Lawyer at 559-967-7386.

You can fight your case and win.

We represent clients in Tulare, Kings, and Fresno Counties.

• In Tulare County we appear in Visalia, Tulare, Porterville, and Dinuba.
• In Kings County we appear in Hanford, Lemoore, Corcoran, and Avenal.
• In Fresno County we appear in Fresno, Selma, Firebaugh, and Kingsburg.

The law office of Christopher Martens, located in Visalia California, can assist you with a variety of legal issues, including expert trial representation.

We are one hundred percent criminal defense; our focus is on defending your right to a fair trial. The number one issue in assuring a fair trial is making sure that only legally obtained evidence is used against you. We also ensure that only credible evidence is used against you. We vigorously challenge statements made by the police and other issue on the basis of bias, lack of credibility and prior inconsistent statements.

Call the Christopher Martens 559-967-7386 Criminal Defense Lawyer for a free consultation.

I handle an extensive range of criminal law matters. I will work with clients seeking legal assistance with Misdemeanors, Felonies, Parole, and Probation violations. A misdemeanor is a less serious crime that has as its maximum punishment of up to one year in the county jail. A felony is a crime that may result in a sentence to state prison. A wobbler is an offence that can be either a felony or a misdemeanor. A wobbler offence can be reduced to a misdemeanor by making a deal with the district attorney or by motion to the judge.

Three Strikes Law

The three strikes law in California in a sentencing enhancement that can result in a life sentence depending on the defendant’s criminal history.

Certain felonies are considered “strikes.” These strikes are felonies that are considered either violent or serious. Some charges that are considered strikes or assault with a weapon, or assault with that causes great bodily harm, or crime that benefit a criminal street gang.

A defendant can’t be struck out unless he commits a new felony after being convicted of prior strikes. For example defendant is involved in a gang related assault where there are two victims. Defendant pleads guilty to two counts of assault with a weapon. Now defendant has two strikes on his record. Because of the defendants youth and lack of prior record defendant serves only a short time in jail.
Once a defendant has two strikes any felony can be used to sentence them to life in prison. For example sometime with in the next ten years the defendant is accused of simple possession of meth-amphetamine, if convicted of simple possession, he could receive a life sentence for possession of ten dollars worth of meth.

If instead of two strikes the defendant has just one strike, his sentence will be doubled. So if defendant can be sentenced to prison for 2, 3, or 4 years for the crime; the sentence will be doubled to 4, 6, or 8 years. In addition to the sentence the defendant will have to serve a minimum of 85 percent of that sentence. Defendants without strikes have to serve half of their sentence. Even one strike can drastically increase a defendant’s sentence.

Strikes must be proven just like any other element or crime and the burden is on the prosecution to prove the strikes. A skilled attorney may be able to raise reasonable doubt that these strikes happened. An attorney can also negotiate with the district attorney or judge to have one or more the strikes dismissed.

Even if the strikes are proven, an experience attorney can make a motion to have the strikes dismissed. This is called a Romero motion. A Romero motion is an argument made to the judge that he should dismiss the strikes out of fairness to the defendant. The judge must consider all the circumstances in the case and then decide if enforcing the sentence with the three strikes would be fair.

Other Crimes

Assault & Battery: If you have been accused of assaulting another person or battering another person you may have had the right to self defense. If you were defending your self you have the right to use reasonable force to defend your person. That includes hitting or striking another person who threatened you or attempted to strike or hit you.

Child Abuse: In California it is legal to use corporal punishment in order to discipline your children. Despite the fact that parents may correctly and legally spank or discipline in other physical ways, police often error on the side of charging crime when any abuse is reported by neighbors or teachers. Often during a difficult divorce or separation one parent accuses the other in order to gain an advantage on custody hearing. This can lead to criminal charges that can be successfully challenged.

Embezzlement and Criminal Fraud: During these difficult financial time many business have failed or defaulted on debts. Occasionally those who are trying to collect these debts allege criminal fraud. While defendants don’t always have the best business practices; it is often possible to show that there was not specific criminal intent to defraud. Often the case can be resolved if the indebted party offers to make arrangement to pay back the money owed.

Welfare fraud: we can help if you are charged with welfare fraud. Sometime client don’t declare all of their income or don’t report a change in circumstance when a father moves back in to the home. These charges can be defeated if you honestly didn’t intend to defraud the welfare systems. Even if the evidence does show that you intentionally misstated certain information the charges can be reduced by making payment arrangements on the amount owed.

Drug Crimes: Possession of Marijuana of less than an ounce is a misdemeanor, and can be punished with a fine. Possession of Marijuana over an ounce is a misdemeanor and can be punished with a sentence to the County Jail. The Law Offices of Christopher Martens also handles all types of drug cases, from under the influence of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, sales and transportation of controlled substance.

Drunk Driving/ DUI/DWI: Many defendants charged with driving under the influence of alcohol have had little or no interaction with the criminal justice system. Appearing in court for a first time DUI can be a scary and intimidating task. You can fight your DUI charge. One of the first things that we look at is if the police had probable cause to stop and arrest you. If the search or arrest is illegal than the case should be dismissed. Second can the state prove that you were driving the car? Sometimes there is conflicting evidence as to who was driving the car. Thirdly, can the state prove what your level of intoxication was at the time you were driving? There are times where there are intervening circumstances such as consumption of alcohol after stopping the vehicle but before you are tested.

Gun Possession: it may be a felony for some citizens to possess a firearm if they have been convicted of a felony. The District Attorney must prove that you had dominion and control over the gun.

Speeding & Moving Violations: I can fight you speeding tickets and other moving violations. If you have a commercial license or just want to keep the points off your license, I can help keep those points off. One way is to fight the ticket and have it dismissed outright. Other times it’s possible to settle the case for a violation that has no points.

Theft: We represent many clients charged with thefts, from petty thefts to grand thefts. One of the ways we can have these crimes reduced is by getting an independent evaluation of the items allegedly stolen. Items under $400.00 are considered petty thefts and may be a misdemeanor.

We provide expert Trial Representation.

Call an Attorney that can represent you at trial. The first part of a trial is where both sides make Motions in Limine. This is one of the most important parts of the case because they determine what evidence the jury will see. The defense must be successful in keeping out evidence that would bias and prejudice the jury against the defendant.

Jury Selection: Both side may question the jury to see of any members of the jury panel are not fit to serve as jurors, or if potential jurors would be prejudiced against they type of case they are expected to judge. For example, it would not be fail to the defendant to have a juror whose brother had been killed by a Drunk Driver sit on a driving under the influence case. Even thought the facts may be completely different the present case it is sometimes too hard for a jury with such a traumatic experience to be fair. This type of juror who can not be fair will be dismissed For Cause. Both the defense and prosecution have unlimited motions to dismiss jurors for Cause.

Once a jury has been selected the next phase of the trial is opening statements. Opening statements are critical because they set the tone for the trial. They are promises of what evidence will be presented. If the defense or prosecution doesn’t deliver on these promises it can be very damaging to the case. It also lets the jury know where you are going with the evidence so that they don’t ignore or miss key part of the testimony. An effective opening statement is one that gives the jury a road map for the case. It’s the attorney’s first chance at persuading the jury over to their side.
Next evidence is given by the prosecution in the form of witness testimony. Followed by cross examination by the defense. Once the prosecution directs the witness to testify on issues relevant to the case the defense has the opportunity or cross examine the those same witness in order to show flaws in there testimony. Could they really have seen what they claim to have seen? Do they have some bias that would cause them to lie? Have they lied in the past? Do they have poor character for truthfulness? Are there inconsistency in their stories that should cause the jury to disbelieve what they are saying?

After the prosecution puts on all of their evidence, the defense has the opportunity to call any witness that will produce relevant information that the jury might need to consider. This might be independent witnesses that contradict the evidence of the prosecution witness. Or it might be an expert that can challenge the conclusion and testimony of the prosecution expert. Or it might be witnesses that can cast doubt on the credibility of the prosecution’s witness. Sometimes the defendant will testify on his own behalf.

The prosecution will give its closing argument. Here the prosecution has a chance to argue the law applied to the facts.

Next the defense will give their closing arguments. I successful defense attorney with argue the law pointing out where the prosecution has failed to meet their burden of proof, and point out facts and evidence the show that their client is innocent of the charges. If the defense has been effective in selecting a fair jury, effectively cross-examined the prosecution witness and presented compelling evidence in the defense of their client now is when the final argument can be made for an acquittal.
Finally the prosecution has the last work to attempt to address any issues that the defense raised in its closing arguments. The defendants closing argument must be persuasive enough to with stand this finale attack.

Gang Allegations

Under California law if a person is convicted of a misdemeanor done for the purpose of promoting a gang it becomes a felony. If a defendant is convicted of a felony for the the benefit or at the direction of a gang an enhancement of five years can be added the defendants sentence. If a defendant is convicted of violent felony for the at the direction of a gang, such as assault with a weapon (California Penal Code 245(a)(1) with a weapon), the defendants sentence can be increased by ten years. Some crimes (such as dissuading a witness) when charged with a gang enhancement can result in a sentence of life in prison.

Most prosecutors use ten factors in order to prove that defendants are members of gangs. These factors are used by police to document gang members so that later they can be given harsher sentences. A suspect must have at least three of the ten factors. These factors are:

1) The person ADMITS to be a gang member.
2) The person is OBSERVED to associate with known gang members.
3) The person has GANG TATTOOS to show allegiance.
4) The person WEARS GANG SYMBOLS or COLORS associated with the gang.
5) The person is PHOTOGRAPHED with other known gang members or showing signs of gang involvement.
6) The person is recorded and written on gang DOCUMENTS and graffiti.
7) The person is IDENTIFIED by requesting to be housed with gang-members in jail.
8) The person is ARRESTED with other gang members.
9) The person CORRESPONDS with gang members.
10) The person WRITES gang symbols and other gang affiliation on notebooks, school work, etc.

A persons gang history starts long before they are ever arrested. A typical pattern that the law enforcements uses to document someone is out lined below.

One way to show gang ties is the defendant's self admission to being in a gang. If a person is suspected of being in a gang law enforcement is often very persistent in documenting these admissions. In order to avoid being wrongly labeled by law enforcement as being associated with a gang it is very important to evoke your right to remain silent any time the police question you regarding any thing to have to do with gangs. You have the right to remain silent even if you are not under arrest.

Law enforcement sometimes tries to ask seemingly innocent or indirect questions about your involvement about gangs. Instead of asking "Are you a gang member?" they might ask "What side would you take in a fight?" or "Who to you hang with?" or "Would you back up Northerners?" or "Would you back up your cousin (who is a gang member) in a fight?" or "are you from a certain area?" Any answer to these questions goes on a card in the suspects file and will be used against them in the future even if they are not arrested at the time.

Often the police will ask who the suspect's friends are or who they hangout with. Any time the police you if you know a particular person; evoke your right to remain silent. You don't have to tell the police if you know some one or if they are your friend.

All this information goes down in your file and will be used against you. The police often try to appear friendly by asking you if you know so and so; but they are really just trying to document you as a gang member.

Then next step is to arrest and charge a suspect for a minor crime. This serves several purposes; The first is part of the booking process will document any tattoos that you have. Having gang symbols or tattoos that are gang related is a clear indication of membership. Secondly the jail will try to force the suspect to admit gang ties for housing. Where a person is housed in jail is very important to the process of gang validation.

If the suspect is convicted of any crime, even a relatively minor misdemeanor offense; the court will put the suspect on probation. One of the terms of probation will be that the defendant is subject to search at any time. Once the defendant is on probation, even for a misdemeanor, the police can stop and search them whenever they like. When they find things that are purported to be gang related such as a rap CD suspected, a Cowboy or 49er's jersey, any notebooks with tagging or drawings. These are all indicia of gangs and will be documented and used later for prosecution.

Even what might seem to be an innocent picture with friends can be used to show association, if any of them are gang members. That picture will be documented as evidence of gang involvement. Anytime suspects are documented as wearing gang colors like red or blue; it goes on the card and is used against them.

Once a person is labeled as a gang member it is hard to get that label off. Once documented by law enforcement a gang-member the suspect is subject to harsher sentences if convicted. If you are charged with gang related crime call Christopher Martens.