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Meet Brenton Aitken Hands
Brenton Aitken Hands is a young lawyer with a zeal and passion for the law that few lawyers possess. Most lawyers practice law to make money. Brenton Aitken Hands practices law to advance the cause of justice for those who we represent. Brenton has already won several appeals with the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit; one of them being a landmark case for the cause of liberty; Merritt Sharp v. County of Orange (9th Circuit 2017).View Profile
Police Misconduct Attorney Jerry L. Steering is a Specialist in suing the police and defending bogus criminal cases since 1984.
Police Misconduct Articles by Jerry L. Steering
Police Misconduct Attorney: Contempt of Cop / Resisting Arrest California Penal Code 148(a)(1) Lawyer
by Jerry L. Steering
You don’t have to be a gangster to get arrested for a “Resistance Offense” with Police Misconduct in America. Plenty of non-criminal good citizens are confronted by police these days, on little or no evidence to suspect them of criminal activity. Sometimes they think that you are someone who you are not or are just at the wrong place and time. So, when an innocent civilian gets accosted by a police officer and told to prone themselves . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: What To Do If You Have Been Beaten-Up or Falsely Arrested By The Police
by Jerry L. Steering
“A trial is an exercise in placing blame”. When the police use unreasonable force on civilians or otherwise violate their constitutional rights they almost always arrest them for some “resistance offense”; crimes that are so vague that almost any conduct by one can be twisted into the innocent of having somehow “resisted” or “delayed” or “obstructed” a police officer. In other words, . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: Cal. Penal Code Section 69; The Hammer Of Oppression
by Jerry L. Steering
Arrests and prosecutions for violations of Cal. Penal Code § 69 (resisting / dissuading pubic officer by threatening or using violence) is the latest tool in the government's defensive arsenal to prevent you from obtaining justice and redress for government outrages perpetrated against you. Section 69 is the resistance offense de jour. . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: Cal. Penal Code Section 148(a)(1) – The Boot Of The Police State
by Jerry L. Steering
“A trial is an exercise in placing blame”. Nowhere is that concept more acute than in criminal and civil actions that involve issues of whether the police violated your constitutional rights. After all, whether you’re being criminally prosecuted for some “resistance offense”, or you’re suing the police in court, Modern Police Officers often falsely arrest and maliciously procure the false prosecution of the very victims . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: Can You Sue The Police For Malicious Criminal Prosecutions?
by Jerry L. Steering
Malicious criminal prosecutions of the victims of police beatings and false “Contempt of Cop” arrests are rampant. When the police beat you and falsely arrest you, they attempt to procure your bogus criminal prosecution to shift the blame from them to you, and to preclude you from being able to sue them. Under California state law a police officer is absolutely immune for attempting to frame you for a crime. Cal. Gov't Code § 821.6. The question of whether one can sue . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: The D.A. Can Do No Wrong; Prosecutorial Immunity And The Police State
by Jerry L. Steering
The Police State Isn’t Just The Police. It’s The body politic. It’s those of us who get to sit on juries, and either condone or disapprove police actions. It’s the Judges and Justices who make the law (and don’t think for one second that it’s not all made up by the Courts). It’s Congress and state legislatures. It’s the media. It’s the politicians. It’s Hollywood. It’s any way and any form of shaping our belief system, to accept, as not only common or normal, but even as reasonable, what . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: So What’s The Big Deal With The Ninth Amendment?
by Jerry L. Steering
The Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” The Ninth Amendment explicitly commands that unenumerated rights are not to be denied or disparaged by virtue of their lack of textual location in the federal Constitution. The concept of disparagement is grounded in equal treatment or parity between the items . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: Why Grand Juries Don't Indict Police Officers
by Jerry L. Steering
Almost always when a County District Attorney presents a criminal case to a Grand Jury involving unlawful duty related activities by a peace officer, the District Attorney is making the case go away. The District Attorney has no desire to prosecute police officers, and if they do file a criminal case it is usually one against the civilian victim of the police outrages; something thousands of times more common that the violating police officer being criminally prosecuted . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: The “Contempt of Cop Game”; How Well Can You Play?
by Jerry L. Steering
The “Contempt of Cop Game” is one of those type of games, where one side, the police and prosecutor, know the game, its rules and how to play, and the other side, you, have no clue how to play. Hopefully, an experienced police misconduct lawyer can play your hand; successfully. For example, if the police arrested you for robbing a liquor store and they wanted to obtain a custodial statement from you . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: Why The Police Are Not Our Friends Anymore
by Jerry L. Steering
In years gone by, we, as a society, had a whole lot more respect for each other. People were simply more polite and respectful toward each other. So were the police. They didn’t dress like they were dressed for combat The police officers that we grew up with walked a beat, carried .38 caliber revolver and wasn't trained to kill you if you posed any potential danger to them. This all changed with the "Wars on Drugs", the SWAT TV show of the . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: Federal Civil Rights Lawsuits
by Jerry L. Steering
42 U.S.C. § 1983 is the statute that we use to sue state and local officials, like police officers, for violating our federal constitutional rights. Section 1983 is not itself a source of substantive Constitutional rights, but merely provides a method for vindicating federal rights conferred in the federal Constitution itself. In other words, Section 1983 is a federal statute that doesn’t define any Constitutional . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: How The Exclusionary Rule Backfired And Crushed Americans’ Constitutional Rights
by Jerry L. Steering
In a very real sense, there is no such thing as “the law.” There is no real live “formula” or precise wording of statutes or ballot propositions, that the voters or the legislature, either do, or could, be made to do justice in any given situation. Things change, and the drafters of the statutes and ballot propositions aren’t all knowing and can’t envision every possible situation that their “law” would . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: Dirty Harry And The Criminal Procedure Counter-Revolution
by Jerry L. Steering
People who believe the Courts are a bunch of “liberal judges” who let the criminals go free for the slightest technicality, have no concept of reality. They are watching too much TV. In fact, most people don’t have a clue as to what Constitutional rights they either have, or used to have . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: Why The Cops Get Away With It; The Jury System
by Jerry L. Steering
To attack the jury system is to attack an institution that has been the primary barrier between oppression and freedom in the English speaking world since 1215 (the issuance of the Magna Carta.) This is not an attack on the jury system. It is merely a reflection as to why in false arrest, unreasonable force and malicious prosecution cases, the way that a jury decides these type of cases is as much of a political decision as it is a factual one. Juries usually will vote in favor of the police based on their belief systems about the police; that police officers don't do bad things to people who don't deserve it . . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: Why American’s Civil Rights Are Going, Going, Gone
by Jerry L. Steering
Although the wording of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution only permits searches and seizures of persons, places and things "but upon probable cause", over the past 35 years or so, "Officer's Safety" has replaced that requirement of "probable cause" or even "reasonable suspicion" to believe that the person seized has committed a crime in now permitting such warrantless searches and seizures. Appellate court decisions in criminal case evidence suppression motions has also chopped-away at the tree of liberty. . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: Why The Police Don't Want Their Conduct Recorded
by Jerry L. Steering
If you ask any Risk Management Officer with a public entity about the their police agency even being equipped with Patrol Video Recording Systems, they will tell you (off the record) that they are vehemently opposed to any such recording. Although when some police officer does something terrible to a civilian, the politicians call for “transparency”, Risk Management people with the public agency know that the numbers of false claims against police officers will be greatly exceeded by the number of police outrages against the public that does get recorded. . . .
Police Misconduct Attorney: The Modern Police State: “Officer’s Safety” Replaces “Probable Cause”
by Jerry L. Steering
Police officers usually don’t go “hands on” any more unless the person is handcuffed, or there are multiple officers to beat the person, “in concert”. These days they usually don’t even use their batons. They either tase you or just shoot you. There are no real world consequences for police officers to even murder an innocent; that is so long as no one is lurking in the shadows with a cell phone who video recorded the murder in sufficient detail to not allow the police to make up some phony justification as to why the officer properly shot another. . . .
Do I Have A Right To Record The Police?
by Jerry L. Steering
California enacted Cal. Penal Code § 148(g) that specifies that recording the police is not a crime. Almost all of the federal courts also have ruled that it is not a crime to record the police. However, if you live within territorial jurisdiction of the the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit (North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas), you presently do not really have a First Amendment right to record the police. That issue will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court in 2018 as there is now a Petition for Certiorari filed with the U.S. Supreme Court from the Eight Circuit's Opinion in Matthew Stephen Akins v. Daniel K. Knight, et al., No. 17-6992 to finally decide whether the First Amendment protects the public's right to record the police. . . .
Is It A Crime To Refuse To Identify Yourself to a Police Officer in California?
by Jerry L. Steering
Contrary to what most California police officers might believe or tell you when they are putting the handcuffs on you, it is not a crime in California to refuse to identify yourself to a police officer, save a lawful traffic stop or when you are being booked at a jail. The confusion emanates from a Supreme Court case out of Nevada named Hibbel v. Six Judicial District, in which the Supreme Court held that under Nevada law if the police have legal grounds to detain you that they can arrest you for failing to identify yourself to them. . . .Our Police Misconduct Cases in the News
Family of Veteran Recovers Against VA Hospital For Fatal Tackle
Family recovers $500,000.00 in lawsuit against united states for death of veteran at veterans affairs hospital in Loma Linda, California ...
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Apple Valley Deputy Sheriff shoots battered wife after arresting husband
An Apple Valley woman has been awarded a $600,000 settlement in a civil lawsuit against San Bernardino County after a sheriff’s deputy ...
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County settles sheriff’s deputy beating lawsuit for $500,000
A Riverside man who was choked and beaten with a police flashlight obtained a $500,000 settlement from San Diego County ...
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Orange County Pays $727,500.00 To Settle Civil Rights Lawsuit
To Save Nancy Butano, Who Didn't Call 911, Sheriff's Deputies Attacked Her in Her Home...
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Man Arrested For Beating Opossum Wins the Right To Sue
Ruling by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals holding that it’s not a crime to strike an opossum with a shovel ...
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Sharp v. County of Orange; police may no longer detain innocents during arrests of others
Merritt L. Sharp III has a strained relationship with police, which keep detaining him either at gun point ...
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Ninth Circuit resurrects police whistle-blower lawsuits
DHS police retaliation lawsuit headed back to court after a three-judge appellate panel allowed a wrongful termination ...
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Retired cop awarded $220,000.00 against San Diego County for false arrest for gun possession
Retired cop sues deputies over gun arrest March 1, 2016 Kristina Davis A retired California Highway Patrol ...
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Newport Beach Police; man stunned by deputies in his bedroom gets $380,000
Man stunned by deputies in his bedroom gets $380,000.00 Skip Torrance recently settled a lawsuit with the county and Laguna ...
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Long Beach Police Corruption – “Somali Pirates” Of Long Beach
Long Beach Police Eject owners of famous Belmont Shores Bar to let their friends take possession; until Judge restores bar to rightful owners. Hundreds of thousand in losses to rightful owners at center of case. Rightful owner get cited for assaulting the "Pirates" who tried to steal his business to shift the blame.
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Deputy who shot, stomped a downed suspect can be sued for excessive force, appeals court rules
By Maura Dolan Nov 01, 2017] An Orange County sheriff’s deputy who in 2013 continued to shoot a felled suspect ...
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Anaheim pays $300,000 to shootout bystanders
Norma Cortez recovered $300,000.00 from the City of Anaheim for using motorists on the 91 freeway as human traps for ...
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Family gets $2.1 million in jail death
Family Gets $2.1 Million in Jail Death. Jason Gomez was deprived of his psych meds and was given a “Palestinian ...
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Jerry L. Steering’s Notable Orange County Police Misconduct Cases
Zion v. County of Orange, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Mr. Steering successfully argued that although ...
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Riverside County Notable Police Misconduct Cases
Jerry L. Steering, Esq., is a Police Misconduct Attorney, serving, among other places, Riverside County and the Riverside County cities ...
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Newport Beach Cops Lose Demand to End Lawsuit Over Taxi Fare Dispute
Newport Beach Cops Lose Demand to End Lawsuit Over Taxi Fare Dispute SCOTT MOXLEY JULY 25, 2018 4 COMMENTS ...
Read MorePolice Misconduct Attorney
Police Misconduct Attorney Jerry L. Steering, Esq. is a specialist in suing police officers and in defending bogus resisting arrest and battery on peace officer cases. Today's police officers often literally "Get away with murder". They can beat you, falsely arrest you and procure your malicious criminal prosecution; all without fear that they will be held accountable in any way.
- Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11550 – Under influence of controlled substance
- Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11350 – Possession of Controlled Substance
- Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11352 – Selling or Transporting a Controlled Substance
- Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11365 – Drug Loitering
- Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11377 – Possession of Methamphetamine
- Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11378 – Possession of Methamphetamine with intent to sell
- Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11379 – Sale and Transportation of Methamphetamine
- Cal. Health & Safety Code § 11379.6 – Manufacturing Controlled Substance Sale and Transportation of Methamphetamine
- Cal. Penal Code § 243(e)(1); domestic battery
- Cal. Penal Code § 270; child neglect
- Cal. Penal Code § 273.5; domestic battery
- Cal. Penal Code § 273a; child endangerment
- Cal. Penal Code § 273d – child abuse
- Cal. Penal Code § 368 – elder abuse
- Cal. Penal Code § 422 – criminal threats
- Cal. Penal Code § 646.9 – stalking
- Cal. Penal Code § 591 – damaging phone line
- Cal. Penal Code § 647(j) – revenge porn
- Cal. Penal Code § 653.2 – posting harmful information on internet
- Cal. Penal Code § 240 – simple assault
- Cal. Penal Code § 241(C) – Assault on a peace officer
- Cal. Penal Code § 242 – simple battery
- Cal. Penal Code § 243(b) – Battery on a peace officer
- Cal. Penal Code § 245(a) – Assault with a deadly weapon or by means likely to result in Great Bodily Injury
- Cal. Penal Code § 245(c) – Assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer
- Cal. Penal Code § 187 – Murder
- Cal. Penal Code § 192 – Manslaughter
- Cal. Veh. Code § 22658 – basic private property impound towing law
- Cal. Veh. Code § 22953 – towing vehicle unlawfully parked in commercial lot less than one hour
- Cal. Penal Code § 518 / 519 – Extortion
- Cal. Veh. Code § 10851 – Taking vehicle without consent
- Cal. Penal Code § 487d – Auto theft
- Cal. Veh. Code § 23152; Driving Under Influence of alcohol or drugs
- Cal. Veh. Code § 23153; Driving Under Influence of alcohol or drugs causing injury
- Cal. Penal Code § 192; Vehicular Manslaughter
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Awards & Settlements
- Jimenez v. County of San Diego, U.S. District Court (San Diego) 2016; $500,000.00 settlement for excessive force.
- Alexis Segovia v. Cathedral City, U.S. District Court (Riverside) 2017; $225,000.00 for false arrest
- VNT Property 1 LLC, et al. v. City of Buena Park, et al.; U.S. District Court (Santa Ana) 2017; $350,000.00 for wrongful seizure of property.
- Robert Pitt v. County of San Diego, U.S. District Court (San Diego) 2017; $220,000.00 for false arrest
- Michael Jackson v. County of Kern, et al.; U.S. District Court (Bakersfield) 2018; $250,000.00 for unreasonable force
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- Beating your bogus criminal case
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Jerry L. Steering
Civil Rights Lawyer Specializing in Police Misconduct and Criminal Defense; Suing Police Officers and Others for Violating Your Federal Constitutional Rights. Make the wrong step and you are out. We know where to step.
- Wrongful Death
- 42 U.S.C. § 1983; Violation of Federal Constitutional Rights
- Unreasonable & Excessive Force
- Police Beating Cases
- Police Shooting Cases
- Police Hobbling & Hogtying Death Cases
- Police Failure To Provide Medical Care Cases
- State Created Danger Doctrine Cases
- Taser Cases
- Baton Strike Cases
- Pepper Spray Cases
- Tight Handcuff Cases
- Assault
- Battery
- False Arrest & False Imprisonment
- Malicious Prosecution Cases
- Illegal Search & Seizure Of Persons and Property Cases
- Withholding Exculpatory Evidence from Criminal Defendant Cases
- Negligence & Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress Cases
- Wrongful Taking of Child Cases
- Jail & Prison Injury Cases
Mr. Steering Obtains “Sweetheart Deal” For Deputies’ Misconduct
Orange County District Attorney’s Office Folds In Battle For Constitutional Rights Of Arrestees In Southern California. Sweetheart Deal for Murder ...
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Police Brutality – Excessive Force
Mr. Steering has been defending bogus resistance offense cases and suing police officers for false arrests and brutality / excessive ...
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Mr. Steering Wins 21 Year Battle Over Right To Detain Others Present At Arrest Warrant Executions
Mr. Steering wins 21 year battle for freedom from detentions during arrests of others. Detentions during arrest warrant executions are ...
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Orange County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Sheriffs Torture 19 Year Old Man And Attempt To Destroy Incident Video
Young Man endures torturing and threatening by Orange County Sheriff Deputies Destruction of evidence by the OCSD is rampant. Orange ...
Read MoreCory Baima is awarded $208,000.00 for false arrest and beating by Deputy
County Settles Lawsuit Pointing to Deputy; another beating and cover-up February 11, 2004|Stuart Pfeifer | Times Staff Writer Another beating ...
Read MoreAnaheim pays $300,000 to shootout bystanders
Bystander Shot By Police Norma Cortez recovered $300,000.00 from the City of Anaheim for using motorists on the 91 freeway ...
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Orange County Pays $727,500.00 To Settle Civil Rights Lawsuit
To Save Nancy Butano, Who Didn’t Call 911, Sheriff’s Deputies Attacked Her in Her Home ...
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Ninth Circuit rules police may terminate the threat but not the person
In a landmark ruling that going against the trend, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals holds that a police may ...
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Civil Rights Lawyer Jerry L. Steering sues the police for Constitutional violations
CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE RISE OF THE POLICE STATE: AS A PRACTICAL MATTER, WE LIVE IN A QUASI-POLICE STATE. If ...
Read MorePractice Areas
Criminal “Contempt Of Cop” Cases – Jerry L. Steering
Just imagine being criminally prosecuted for some "resistance offense" against a police officer when you were the one who was falsely arrested and beaten for "failing the attitude test".
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Civil Rights Cases
The Constitution is nothing other than what the Supreme Court and the federal intermediate appellate courts says it is. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Criminal Law Practice – Generally
Jerry L. Steering has been practicing criminal law since 1984 (in California since 1986.) He has tried and otherwise litigated ...
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Drunk Driving Case Defense
The Law Offices of Jerry L. Steering, has been a litigating DUI cases since 1984. As a young lawyer Mr. ...
View Practice DetailMeet the Attorneys
Jerry L. Steering
Jerry L. Steering was born in 1955 in Buffalo and graduated from the University of Georgia School of Law in 1984.
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Brenton Whitney Aitken Hands
Brenton Whitney Aitken Hands is an Orange County, California native, and a great up and coming young lawyer.
View Attorney ProfilePolice Misconduct litigation is very complicated. The law in this area is complex, confusing and takes many years of litigation and appellate experience to ferret out which cases are likely to prevail in court, and which ones probably will not. The law is not what the average citizen might expect, and new and expanded immunities for police officers and other government officials are growing exponentially.
We are not fortune tellers but our three plus decades of experience in this area may help you in your quest for justice.
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