Areas of Practice
Los Angeles County District Attorney
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office is one of the largest public law offices in the country. With over 900 prosecutors, it services all of Los Angeles County from the city of Long Beach to the south, to the city of Lancaster to the north, the city of Santa Monica to the west, and the city of Pomona to the east. This is also one of the largest geographic areas covered by a prosecutor’s office in the country. This office is the next largest DA’s office in the country after the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in the state of New York.
Prosecutors work for the state, at the county level. Usually, prosecutors are hired directly out of law schools and intensively trained by the District Attorney’s office. Attorney Jeff Rubenstein was trained by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and was a prosecutor for 5 years. Many prosecutors make a career out of this assignment. Attorney Jeff Rubenstein left the DA’s office in 1998 and uses his experience as a prosecutor to defend his clients in criminal matters.
Prosecutors are primarily in charge of handling felony cases. Misdemeanor cases are handled by the city of Los Angeles City Attorney’s office. The City Attorney’s Office is headed by Rocky Delgadillo. The District Attorney’s office is headed by Steve Cooley. In areas of the county that are unincorporated, the district attorney has been contracted by local areas to handle both felony and misdemeanor cases.
Misdemeanors and felonies are crimes which are defined by their punishment. A misdemeanor is a crime where the sentence is up to one year in the Los Angeles County Jail which is headed by the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Dept. Felonies are crimes where the punishment is a year or more in State Prison (probation may be granted in felony cases, so it is often possible to avoid prison in felony matters.)
When criminal charges are filed by a prosecutor it is the state versus the individual defendant. That is why cases are titled “People vs. John Doe”. The victim of the crime is never named as a party.
A Los Angeles County District Attorney has many jobs. The first job is to read police reports and wrap sheets (a person’s prior record) and decide what charges should be filed. They then represent the state through the stages of the criminal process from arraignment, setting bail, preliminary hearing, plea bargaining, trial, and sentencing recommendation (these items are discussed in detail within the site)
The Los Angeles criminal defense attorneys at the Law Offices of Jeff Rubenstein understand the way prosecutors work and successfully deal with them at all stages of the criminal process
Call the Los Angeles Criminal Defense legal team at the law offices of Jeffery K Rubenstein at 310-477-2100 today to schedule a free consultation and get on the road to taking care of your legal troubles today!