EDUCATION

•  2011  M.S. Forensic Psych., Walden University, MN
•  2003  LL.M. Criminal, University of San Diego Law, CA
•  1996  J.D.   Thomas Jefferson, School of Law, SD, CA
•              (Cambridge University, Cambridge England)
•  1991  M.B.A. University of Redlands, Redlands, CA
•  1979  B.S. Computer Science, Florida Atlantic Univ. FL
•  1976  A.A.  Associate of Arts, Palm Bch Jr. College, FL

AREAS OF PRACTICE

•  Judge Pro-Tem volunteer at Kearny Mesa Superior Court
•  Over 1500 Parole Revocation and Lifer Hearings see legal services
  
•  Vista Public Defender for  LLM Criminal Internship –  trials
•  Mediator  since   2000 for NC LIFELINE’s Dispute Resolution
•  Arbitrator since  1996 – California Housing Finance Agency  
•  San Diego Superior Court  –  Mediator Certified
•  Solo Practitioner since 1997
•  Criminal, Personal Injury,  Bankruptcy and Employment Law

UNADDRESSED ISSUE:  
      What happens when a prisoner serving a sentence for crimes committed as a juvenile exceed his natural lifespan is later convicted of an offense which disqualifies him from the youth offender parole provisions of Penal Code section 3051?

        At the time of the crimes, petitioner D’Arsey Bolton was 16. He accosted two young girls, aged 10 and 12, while they were at school, forcing each at knife point into a bathroom, where he threatened them and raped them. Petitioner was convicted in Contra Costa County of five counts of rape, two counts of unlawful penetration with a foreign object, two counts of forcible lewd and lascivious conduct on a child, two counts of false imprisonment, one count of attempted rape, and one count of assault with a deadly weapon, along with multiple enhancements for being armed with and using a knife and pellet pistol.

He was sentenced to 92 years in state prison, which was modified to 91 years on appeal. Over a decade later (when petitioner was 30), a correctional officer discovered a metal object wrapped in cloth in petitioner’s cell. Petitioner claimed he needed the weapon for protection while in jail. He would later be conviction of possessing a sharp instrument in prison. He admitted 11 strike allegations and was sentenced to 25 years to life under the three strikes law. In this habeas proceeding, petitioner claimed his sentence violated the cruel and unusual punishment prohibition of the Eighth Amendment and asked the Court of Appeal to order Superior Court to resentence him on all of his convictions consistent with the possibility of release in his lifetime, or to find he was not ineligible for youth offender parole.

The Court of Appeal found resentencing on the juvenile offenses was necessary, but petitioner’s adult sentence did not violate the Eighth Amendment. The Court therefore vacated the 91-year term for the crimes committed as a juvenile, and remanded for resentencing.