A charge of online solicitation of a minor is one of the most frightening accusations a person can face, and one of the most misunderstood. In California, the conduct is prosecuted mainly under two statutes — Penal Code § 288.3, contacting a minor with intent to commit a sex offense, and Penal Code § 288.4,…
The word “sodomy” carries a lot of historical baggage, and that leads to one of the most common misunderstandings in California criminal law: the belief that the act itself is illegal. It is not. Consensual private conduct between adults is fully legal in California — Penal Code § 286 criminalizes sodomy only in specific, unlawful…
If you have been charged with a sex offense in Murrieta, Temecula, Menifee, Lake Elsinore, Wildomar, Winchester, Canyon Lake, French Valley, or anywhere in Southwest Riverside County, the decisions you make in the next 48 hours will shape the rest of your life. The Law Office of Nic Cocis defends people accused of sex crimes…
A child pornography charge — under California’s Penal Code § 311 series or under the parallel federal statutes at 18 U.S.C. §§ 2251-2252A — sits at the most consequential end of the criminal exposure spectrum. Federal mandatory minimums run from 5 to 30 years depending on the conduct; California’s penalty structure for production-tier offenses reaches…
California Penal Code § 288 prosecutes lewd acts on a child under 14 — the most aggressively charged child-victim statute in the state. A charge under § 288 carries felony exposure ranging from three years to life imprisonment depending on the subdivision. Mandatory sex offender registration applies in every case. Probation is barred under PC…
If you’ve just been arrested or cited for lewd conduct in public, what you want to know first isn’t what the statute says — it’s whether your life is about to come apart. In most of these cases, it isn’t. The charge is a misdemeanor, it does not put you on the sex offender registry…
If you or someone you love is facing a sex-crime charge in Murrieta, Temecula, Menifee or anywhere in Southwest Riverside County that comes with an aggravating allegation — a prior conviction, a kidnapping claim, a weapon, or a child victim — the case may fall under California’s One Strike law, and that one fact can…
Often, folks don’t fully realize they’ve committed sexual battery. They believe they haven’t had contact with another in a way not allowed by law. The Law Office of Nic Cocis understands this, and we want to make sure our clients get authoritative representation according to the way California looks at Sexual Battery. California Penal Code…
Actor Shia LaBeouf, best known for his role in the Transformers films as well as having played the love child of Indiana Jones, has been a Hollywood bad boy of late, getting into fights and getting arrested. According to an interview in Dazed and Confused Magazine, LaBeouf claimed that he was raped by a woman…
If the accounts from at least 15 women are to be believed, a monster lurks behind the affable façade that Bill Cosby has cultivated over the years. Cosby, at age 77, is being rocked by numerous charges of sexual assault by numerous women, some going back decades. According to the accusations, Cosby was able to…
Of all the crimes out there, those involving children are considered among the most reprehensible to society. This is why people accused of crimes related to child pornography or child molestation need a strong and thorough defense — no one condones these crimes, of course, but we shouldn’t condone wrongful convictions or miscarriages of justice,…
A man from Lake Elsinore, California is in police custody after a woman reported a sexual assault, which allegedly occurred last Friday night (June 6). A Riverside County Sheriff’s official said that the suspect was arrested near Main Street and Limited Avenue a day after the alleged attack. The suspect was subsequently booked after his…
If you or a loved one is facing criminal charges in Southwest Riverside County, time is critical. Contact the Law Office of Nic Cocis today for a free, no-obligation case evaluation.
