The Challenge
A restaurant patron and a manager arranged a staged robbery at a fast-food restaurant. Several thousand dollars were taken. The other employees on shift did not know it was staged. They believed a real robbery was happening. Our client was arrested and charged with felony robbery (Penal Code 211) and false imprisonment (Penal Code 236). Robbery is a violent felony and a strike, and it carries up to five years in state prison. The prosecution sought a prison sentence.
Our Strategy
Robbery requires taking property by force or fear against the will of the person who has it. The manager consented to the taking. That made the case something closer to theft by an insider than a robbery, and we built the defense around that distinction. We also presented our client’s background and the absence of any intent to harm anyone. Through negotiation, our client was sentenced to probation and a local jail term instead of state prison.
The Result
STATE PRISON AVOIDED; PROBATION SECURED
Your Case Belongs at the Southwest Justice Center.
Your Defense Belongs Here.
If you were arrested in Temecula, Murrieta, Menifee, Wildomar, Lake Elsinore, Winchester, or French Valley, your future will likely be decided at the Southwest Justice Center (SWJC) on Auld Road. In these courtrooms, local knowledge is the ultimate advantage. Since 1999, Nic Cocis has been a weekly fixture in the SWJC, appearing before the same judges and negotiating with the same Riverside County prosecutors for over 25 years. We don’t just know the law — we know the specific nuances, procedural quirks, and judicial tendencies of the Southwest District. Whether you are facing a felony or a misdemeanor, you need a firm that treats the Southwest Justice Center as its home turf.
