Grand Theft Auto in Anaheim

In the city of Anaheim and in the state of California, if you steal, take or drive someone else’s car without their permission and with the intent of depriving them of their vehicle, then you can be charged under California Penal Code 487(d)(1) and found guilty of Grand Theft Auto.

For the prosecution to successfully prove your guilt in a Grand Theft Auto (GTA) case against you, they must prove the following key elements:

• That you took or stole someone else’s car
• That you didn’t have the owner’s permission to take the car
• That the value of the car was more than $950 (in most cases)
• That your intention was to take the car long enough for the owner to feel deprived of the car or to permanently deprive them of their car

If you are charged with GTA, it is very important to find an attorney capable and experienced enough in GTA trials to fight against the charges for you. The sooner you are able to call them to defend you, the sooner they will be able to mount a strong defense on your behalf.

Some of the defense strategies that they will explore to defend you include:

• You didn’t intend to steal the car
• You have been wrongfully accused of stealing or taking someone’s car
• As far as you knew, the car belonged to you
  • o For example, say there was a scenario where someone wanted to give her friend a brand new car, but did not possess a sufficient amount of funds or was in the right financial place to do so. Therefore, she stole someone’s car and committed grand theft auto so that she could gift it to her friend. Later, after a short period of time, her friend is found to be driving a stolen car. Because the friend had no knowledge that the car was stolen and he believed that it was under his ownership after his friend had gifted it to him, then he would not be the one guilty of grand theft auto.
• You actually acquired consent from the owner of the car to drive it
  • o For example, say, for instance, someone were to allow his friend to borrow his car because she needed it to go to work for a certain period of time. However, that period of time was never specified between the two parties. After a few weeks of the other party borrowing the car, the owner of the vehicle started to have suspicions that the other party intended to steal his car. After not having it for a month, the owner of the car charged his friend with grand theft auto. However, the person who borrowed the car could use the defense that she had the full intentions of returning it back after she was done using it and that she had the consent of the owner to use it for her work purposes.

There are, of course, several other defense strategies that a good attorney can use to prove that you are not guilty of Grand Theft Auto.

Contact an attorney at the Johnson Criminal Law Group now to discuss your case.