Accused of Child Abuse in Riverside County?

Many cases start with a report to police or child protective services by a school, doctor or family member. If you are arrested and 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. The judge may also issue a protective order that keeps you away from the child, even if the child lives with you. The prosecutor can also file charges later if you were released. The sooner we’re involved, the sooner we can start working on your case.

Child endangerment (PC 273a) covers willfully causing or allowing a child to suffer, or inflicting, unjustifiable physical pain or mental suffering. For anyone caring for a child, it also covers willfully causing or allowing the child to be injured or put in a situation that endangers the child’s health. It can be based on neglect, such as leaving a young child alone, unsafe living conditions or driving under the influence with a child in the car. Corporal injury to a child (PC 273d) is willfully inflicting cruel or inhuman physical punishment, or an injury that causes a traumatic condition, such as a bruise or welt. A parent who willfully fails to provide food, clothing, shelter or medical care can also be charged (PC 270).

It depends on the facts. Child endangerment under circumstances likely to produce great bodily harm or death (PC 273a(a)) can be filed as a misdemeanor or a felony. Endangerment under other circumstances (PC 273a(b)) is a misdemeanor. Corporal injury to a child (PC 273d) can also be filed either way. In a felony case, personally causing great bodily injury to a child under five can add four, five or six years (PC 12022.7(d)), and any felony in which you personally cause great bodily injury counts as a strike (PC 1192.7(c)(8)). Whether the situation was truly likely to cause serious harm is often the main issue.

Not necessarily. As felonies, child endangerment carries two, four or six years in state prison, and corporal injury to a child carries two, four or six years, usually served in county jail. As misdemeanors, they carry up to a year in county jail, or six months for PC 273a(b). Many cases, especially first offenses, end with probation. If the judge grants probation, the law sets minimum terms: at least four years of probation for child endangerment (including misdemeanor PC 273a(b)) or three years for corporal injury, a protective order for the child, and at least one year of an approved child abuser’s treatment program (PC 273a(c), 273d(c), 273.1). The judge can waive any of these terms only by finding that it would not serve the interests of justice and stating the reasons on the record.

In several ways, even before the case ends. A criminal protective order can keep you from seeing your child, and family court must consider any history of child abuse when deciding custody (Family Code 3011). If a child welfare agency finds abuse or severe neglect substantiated, you can be listed in the state’s Child Abuse Central Index, which is checked for jobs and licenses involving children, foster care, adoption and police work (PC 11169, 11170). You may have the right to challenge that listing. A conviction can also cost you your gun rights and affect professional licenses.

Your citation, bail receipt or release paperwork usually lists the courthouse and your first court date. Most criminal cases from the western part of the county are heard at the Riverside Hall of Justice downtown, cases from the southwest part of the county at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta, cases from the Pass area and the San Jacinto Valley at the Banning Justice Center, and Coachella Valley cases, including Palm Springs, at the Larson Justice Center in Indio. A CPS dependency case is heard separately in the juvenile court. If you no longer have the paperwork, call us and we will find the case.

In Riverside County, child abuse reports are investigated by the Department of Public Social Services (DPSS), Children’s Services Division, often at the same time as the police or the Sheriff’s Department. If the county files a dependency case, a DPSS social worker files the petition and County Counsel handles it in court. The case is heard in juvenile court: the Riverside Juvenile Court on County Farm Road in Riverside, the Southwest Juvenile Court or Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta, or the Larson Justice Center in Indio. The two cases move separately, and DPSS must share child abuse reports with the police and the District Attorney (PC 11166). We can work with your dependency lawyer to lower the risk that something in one case hurts you in the other.

Often, yes. Child protective services can investigate on its own, and the county can file a juvenile dependency case asking the court to protect the child (Welfare and Institutions Code 300). If your child is taken into custody, a petition generally must be filed within 48 hours, not counting non-court days, and a detention hearing held by the next court day. The judge in that case uses a lower standard of proof and can order services, supervised visits or keep the child out of your home. If you can’t afford a lawyer for that case, the court can appoint one. What you tell a social worker can be shared with police.

Not by itself. California law allows a parent to use reasonable physical discipline, including spanking. To be lawful, there must be a genuine reason to discipline, and the punishment must be reasonable and not excessive for the child’s age and the situation. Discipline that leaves injuries, or that is excessive or driven by anger rather than correction, can cross the line into a crime. In a criminal case, the prosecutor must prove you were not reasonably disciplining your child. In a CPS case, reasonable, age-appropriate spanking on the buttocks with no serious injury is not considered serious physical harm (Welfare and Institutions Code 300(a)).

Talk to a lawyer first. Politely decline to answer police questions and ask for a lawyer. Statements to police are often the strongest evidence in the case, even when you think they help you. A social worker may ask to interview you, inspect your home or speak with your children, and what you say can end up in the criminal case, so get advice before that meeting. Don’t discuss the accusation with your child or pressure anyone to change their story, follow any protective order exactly, 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. Common defenses include:

• The injury was accidental, such as a fall during play or sports
• You were reasonably disciplining your child
• For child endangerment, the situation was not likely to cause great bodily harm or death, which makes it a misdemeanor at most (PC 273a(b))
• Someone else caused the injury
• A medical condition explains the bruising or injury
• A false accusation, such as during a divorce or custody dispute
• Insufficient evidence to prove the charge beyond a reasonable doubt

We review the police and CPS reports, medical records, forensic interviews, photos, school records and witness statements to find the weaknesses in the case.

Sometimes. Depending on the evidence, charges may be dismissed, never filed, or reduced, for example from felony to misdemeanor child endangerment or to a lesser charge such as simple battery. A felony charge under PC 273a(a) or 273d can often be reduced to a misdemeanor (PC 17(b)). Judge-granted misdemeanor diversion (PC 1001.95) may not be available for offenses that count as domestic violence, which can include abuse of your own child. If you complete probation, you may be able to have the conviction dismissed under PC 1203.4, but it may still need to be disclosed for some licenses. For non-citizens, a child abuse conviction can carry serious immigration consequences, so talk to us before entering any plea.

It depends on the charge and the child. In most misdemeanor cases, California law lets your lawyer appear for you (PC 977). But if the child is your own child, your stepchild or another close relative, the charge may count as domestic violence (Family Code 6211). Then you must be present at the arraignment and at sentencing, and any time the judge orders you to come in to hear the terms of a protective order. In a felony case, you must be present at the arraignment, when you enter a plea, at the preliminary hearing, during trial testimony and at sentencing. Some hearings can be held by video if you agree and the court allows it, but not a trial or a felony sentencing. We tell you before each date whether you need to be in court.