As a Sacramento criminal lawyer, Daniel Karalash has seen his share of complicated criminal defense cases. But he can relate one in particular that should be of interest to anyone who has ever been frustrated with the idea of biases, or the partiality of those who wield the power of the law.
One particularly complicated case involved what Karalash deems indicative of “the way prosecutors go after gang cases. It’s as if prosecutors will go to great lengths to prove any association with gangs,” Karalash continues. “They will argue that whatever crime committed, if it involves threats with a gun, this was because you’re related to a gang.”
More specifically, there was a case in which Karalash’s client waved a gun at another person. He didn’t shoot—he was waving the gun to threaten a man much bigger than him.
Karalash explains, “The client, a younger man, was playing loud rap, hanging around with his friends in the car, just blasting music. A large man came over and was giving them grief about the loud music. So my client takes out a gun and waves it around to push off the large man.”
For Karalash, the case became dependent on whether he could show that his client was waving the gun in self-defense, since the approaching man was large and powerful, and was “coming over intimidating the younger guys in the car.”
In this instance, Karalash argued self-defense, and the case ended up with a hung jury trial. The prosecution, however, alleged that Karalash’s client was part of a gang “because only gang members would intimidate people with guns.”
Karalash is not a particular fan of this attitude. “Once the government says that you’re a gang member, it’s very hard to say, ‘hey, I’m not a gang member.’ Just because young kids have a tattoo doesn’t mean they are engaged in criminal activity.” Even though in this case, a gun was waved to ward off a large, menacing, approaching man, Karalash believes that this itself is not proof that anybody is part of a gang. Rather, Karalash feels that it’s the exercise of the right of self-defense.
But whatever the ruling might be, the incident and the ensuing case illustrate how only a criminal lawyer is positioned to take on the responsibilities of proving an argument in court. Criminal law gets complicated quickly, and you need a professional to represent you against charges brought by government bodies. And in Sacramento, that criminal lawyer is none other than Karalash.
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