San Diego Forgery Attorney
Forgery is a serious crime with long-term potential consequences. Whether your forgery crime is only a misdemeanor or a felony, a conviction can negatively affect your life—both in the present and the future.
So, to mitigate the situation, work with our San Diego forgery attorney the moment you know you’re being implicated in a forgery case.
Lee Law Group is a respected law firm in California with exemplary criminal defense services. Our defense lawyers have all been trained to practice law and defend accused criminals in San Diego, CA. Moreover, our extensive experience improved our skills and widened our arsenal of defense strategies.
When you receive a notice that you’re being charged with forgery, the best thing to do is contact our lawyer right away. We will properly examine the facts of your case in order to strategize the most suitable course of defensive action.
From filing all necessary paperwork, gathering evidence, proactively representing you in court, and solidifying your defense, rest assured that Lee Law Group will provide the most effective legal service you need!
Call Lee Law Group today at (619) 603-0494 for your Initial Consultation with a San Diego Forgery attorney!
Forgery in San Diego, California
As stated in Section 470 of the California Penal Code, forgery is defined as a form of fraud that involves the unauthorized altering of a written instrument, which is done with the intent to defraud a person, government entity, or organization.
Most people associate forgery with checks and promissory. But written instruments that can be forged also include the following documents:
- Last wills and testaments
- Money orders
- Leases
- Stock certificates
- Vehicle or vessel ownership documents
- Lottery tickets
- Powers of attorney
- Mortgage satisfactions
The following acts are considered forgery of any of the abovementioned documents:
- Signing your name on another person’s document
- Signing the document under a fictitious name
- Copying another person’s handwriting or using a seal that belonged to another person or entity to counterfeit a document
Remember that even if someone didn’t profit from their altered document or their intended fraudulent operation wasn’t successful, they will still be charged with forgery. California forgery laws also enable the prosecution to charge a person with forgery if they possess a fake or altered driver’s license. It was then used to mislead the police or other people about that person’s identity or age.
Fortunately, regardless of the particular facts of your case and its overall complexity, our San Diego forgery attorney is more than capable of providing an effective defense service. We are well-versed in navigating the local justice system. We can find the most suitable defense for every type of forgery case. If an acquittal is impossible, rest assured that minimizing your penalties will be our priority.
Penalties for Forgery in California
Your alleged specific act of forgery can be charged as a felony or misdemeanor. The decision lies on the prosecutors, who will consider your criminal history and the facts of your case before deciding.
Proposition 47 under the new California Law states that forgeries based on theft conduct should be charged as misdemeanors if the involved amount is only under $950 and the accused has a clean criminal record.
Other factors that can influence the classification of your case include the following:
- Any harm done to the victims
- The severity of the involved criminal conduct
- The number of victims or affected people
- The value associated with the forged item
If you work with our San Diego forgery attorney, one of the first things we’ll do is persuade the prosecution to file only a misdemeanor charge against you. This can help ensure you won’t suffer the maximum penalty for a forgery case.
The following are the possible penalties for a felony forgery charge:
- 16 months to 3 years in prison
- 2 or 4 years in prison for felony counterfeiting
- Maximum of $10,000 fine
- 5 years probation
- Restitution
- Community service
If your forgery charge is only a misdemeanor, a conviction can result in the following possible punishments:
- Maximum of 1 year in jail
- Maximum of $1,000 fine
- 3 years probation
- Restitution
- Community service
Moreover, aside from the classification of your forgery charge, ‘conduct enhancements’ can also increase the possible penalties. To give you an idea, here are the potential increased punishment for specific criminal acts:
- If the act caused a loss over $500,000 (Penal Code §186.11(a)(2)), Additional 2, 3, or 5 years of imprisonment
- If the act caused a loss of $100,000 to $500,000 (PC §186.11(a)(3)), Additional 1 or 2 years of imprisonment
- If the forgery was committed for a criminal street gang (PC §186.22(b)), Additional 2, 3, or 4 years of imprisonment
- If a forged check was used to defraud a victim of a natural disaster (PC §667.17), Additional 1 year of imprisonment
Aside from the punishments mentioned above, convicted forgers will also lose some of their rights. These include the following:
- The right to own or possess a firearm
- The ability to qualify for specific professional licenses
- Your ability to receive a security clearance for work
All these possible penalties can negatively impact your life in an immediate and futuristic setting. You may lose significant time of freedom and have difficulty landing a job or renting a decent space in the future.
This is why avoiding a conviction as much as possible is vital. Fortunately, this is more achievable with the insight and guidance of our San Diego forgery attorney. We will exhaust every possible strategy to prove your innocence or to reduce your penalties to the minimum, at the very least.
Effective Defense Against Forgery and Related Crimes
Our San Diego, CA law firm doesn’t believe in a one-size-fits-all defense strategy. While general concepts guide our defensive approach to a certain case, the particular facts in a client’s circumstances will determine how we personalize our defense strategy.
Our work starts by getting to know every relevant fact to your case, including your criminal history and every minor run-in with the law. Something might be used by the prosecution to prove that you have the inclination to commit the forgery and other criminal behaviors involved in the act.
Once we’ve gathered and understood all there is to know about your case, we will create a plan and file all the necessary paperwork on your behalf. This can include filing all pre-trial motions that may help turn the final ruling in your favor. And, of course, if the entire thing leads to a trial, our defense lawyer is more than ready to represent and defend you.
The specific defense that we will use will largely depend on the available facts and evidence against you. To give you an idea, here are the possible defenses that we can work for you:
- You have no intention to defraud anyone.
- You got permission from the owner of the check/document to add the owner’s signature.
- You didn’t know that the written instrument was forged during the incident.
- Your Miranda rights were violated.
- There were forensic flaws during the investigation of your case.
Rest assured, however, that we will thoroughly discuss all the defense actions that may apply to your case before we take them. We will run you through the process that will follow and help you prepare for the possible outcomes.
If you’re facing forgery allegations, acquire the services of a seasoned, proactive, and committed criminal defense attorney as soon as possible. Lee Law Group stands out as one of California’s premier legal teams, and we certainly have the best forgery defense lawyer to represent you!
Our extensive knowledge of the state’s forgery laws and our impressive track record of successful cases ensure we will approach your situation with meticulous attention to detail. Our licensed legal practitioners are all fully capable of defending accused individuals against a range of offenses, with forgery among them.
We will safeguard your rights and strive to keep your criminal record untarnished as much as possible. Our primary objective is to prevent our clients from facing convictions. However, there are cases where the prosecution makes a conviction inevitable. In this case, rest assured that our forgery attorneys will vigorously work to minimize the penalties you might face.
Work With the Best San Diego Criminal Forgery Attorney
Call Lee Law Group at (619) 349-1588 for your Initial Consultation with a San Diego Forgery attorney!
