Facing a Felony Strike in the Inland Empire?

You are booked and held until you post bail or see a judge. If you stay in custody, you must be brought to court for arraignment, usually within 48 hours, not counting Sundays and holidays. At arraignment, the judge reads the charges, takes your plea and rules on bail or release. A prior strike often means higher bail. The prosecutor must allege and prove each prior strike (PC 667(f)), and you have the right to a trial on whether you suffered the prior conviction (PC 1025). The sooner we’re involved, the sooner we can start working on your case.

A strike is a conviction for a serious felony (PC 1192.7(c)) or a violent felony (PC 667.5(c)). Common examples include murder, robbery, carjacking, kidnapping, residential burglary, rape and other forcible sex crimes, arson, assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats, witness intimidation, any felony in which you personally used a gun or deadly weapon or caused great bodily injury, and felonies found to be gang-related. Most attempts of these crimes also count. A wobbler, such as criminal threats, that ends as a misdemeanor conviction at sentencing is not a strike. If your new charge is a strike, how it is resolved affects every future case.

With one prior strike, the term for any new felony, not just a serious or violent one, is doubled (PC 667(e)(1), 1170.12(c)(1)). Probation is not allowed, the sentence must be served in state prison rather than county jail, and diversion is not available. The law also limits the credits you can earn to shorten the sentence (PC 667(c)(5)). If you are convicted of more than one new felony from separate events, the sentences must run consecutively. These rules apply unless the judge dismisses the prior strike.

With two or more prior strikes, a new serious or violent felony carries a life sentence with a minimum of at least 25 years (PC 667(e)(2)). Since Proposition 36 passed in 2012, a new felony that is not serious or violent is usually sentenced as a second strike instead, with a doubled term. The life sentence can still apply to a non-serious felony in some cases, such as when the new offense involved a gun, a deadly weapon or intent to cause great bodily injury, certain sex offenses or large drug quantities, or when a prior strike was for a very serious crime such as murder or a sexually violent offense.

Often, yes. There is no washout period: a strike counts no matter how long ago it happened (PC 667(c)(3)). A juvenile adjudication can count if you were 16 or older, the offense is on a list of serious juvenile offenses, and you were made a ward of the juvenile court for it (PC 667(d)(3)). An out-of-state or federal conviction counts only if it includes all the elements of a California strike, and the court is limited to the facts the prior conviction actually established (People v. Gallardo (2017) 4 Cal.5th 120). These limits can give us room to challenge the prior.

A Romero motion asks the judge to dismiss a prior strike in the interest of justice (PC 1385; People v. Superior Court (Romero) (1996) 13 Cal.4th 497). The judge looks at the new offense, the prior strike, and your background, character and prospects, and decides whether you fall outside the spirit of the Three Strikes law (People v. Williams (1998) 17 Cal.4th 148). An old prior, a less serious new offense, steady work, family support, treatment and a long crime-free period can all matter. The judge’s power is limited, so the motion needs to be built with real evidence. The prosecutor can also ask to dismiss a strike (PC 667(f)(2)).

If your new case is a serious felony and you have a prior serious felony conviction, the prosecution can add five years for each prior from a separate case, on top of the doubled or life term (PC 667(a)). Since 2019, judges can strike this five-year enhancement in the interest of justice. They must give great weight to mitigating factors, such as a current offense connected to mental illness or childhood trauma, or a prior conviction more than five years old (PC 1385(c)).

No. Politely decline to answer questions and ask for a lawyer. With a strike on your record, the stakes in any new case are much higher, and statements you make to police are often the strongest evidence, even when you think they help you. Don’t contact the alleged victim or witnesses, and don’t discuss the case by text, email, social media or jail phone calls. All of it can be recorded and used.

It depends on the evidence in the new case and the record of the prior. Common defenses include:

• Defenses to the new charge, such as mistaken identity, self-defense or an illegal search
• The prior conviction is not a strike, or the court records don’t prove it was
• An out-of-state or juvenile prior doesn’t meet California’s requirements
• An older gang-based prior doesn’t qualify under current law (People v. Fletcher (2025) 18 Cal.5th 576)
• The prior was a wobbler that ended as a misdemeanor
• A Romero motion to dismiss the prior strike

We review the evidence in the new case along with the court file, plea forms and transcripts from the prior case to find the weaknesses in both.

Sometimes. In the new case, charges may be dismissed or reduced to a non-strike offense, and a judge can dismiss a prior strike or a five-year prior in the interest of justice. An expungement under PC 1203.4 does not erase a strike: the conviction can still be used in a later case. People serving a third strike life sentence for a felony that was not serious or violent may be able to ask for resentencing as a second striker, though new petitions now require good cause (PC 1170.126). For non-citizens, a strike conviction can carry serious immigration consequences, so talk to us before entering any plea.