Best Criminal Justice Attorney Torrance Near Me

4worldlovers: At the Law Offices of David S. Chesley , we pride ourselves on providing excellent representation to our clients in California. We are more than 25 of the top (Avvo Rating “Superb” 10/10) criminal defense attorneys in the State of California, with over 50 years of Courtroom experience and we always achieve the best results for our clients! As FORMER JUDGES, PROSECUTORS and POLICE who once worked for the State of California we are very successful at getting our client’s cases DISMISSED on a daily basis. 95% of our DUI clients receive NO jail time! We are simply the best at what we do! We believe our RESULTS speak for themselves, check out our RECENT CASE RESULTS page for further details… Our criminal attorneys have been appearing daily in every court in the State of California for decades. Each of our attorneys is assigned one or two Courthouses. Judges and Prosecutors in the Court your case is held work with our attorneys daily and know our law firm and our attorneys on a first name basis. Come see why we have won Avvo’s Clients’ Choice Award for the last 12 years: 2011. 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022…

4worldlovers: We preserve and enforce your rights by fully investigating the facts surrounding the alleged offense and the police procedures utilized during your traffic stop, the DUI field investigation, and subsequent collection, processing, and handling of blood alcohol evidence.


We have experience with getting felony convictions reduced to misdemeanors (including Proposition 47), getting misdemeanors dismissed and expunged from clients’ records, and filing pardon petitions and certificates of rehabilitation.


A qualified criminal defense attorney can talk to prosecutors before your case is filed, which in many cases results in a “DA Reject” – where no case is ever filed against you; in other cases, the charges filed are lesser than they otherwise would have been.


We are well versed in the enforcement of traffic laws, the motor vehicle code, and police procedures, and we can help protect your freedom to drive with effective traffic defense strategies.


Our clients rave about our services. For every client we have served, there is a story that seemed dire, until we stepped in to help.

4worldlovers:
​We zealously defend our clients in Criminal Court in Los Angeles County and Orange County California. ​Our extensive experience includes petty theft, shop lifting, grand theft, vandalism, public intoxication, drunk in public, disorderly conduct, stalking, criminal threats, harassment by phone or electronic communications, drug possession and drug paraphernalia, battery, assualt, domestic violence, false police report, interfering with a police investigation, interfering with a police officer in official duty, battery upon a police officer, disturbing the peace, trespass, destruction of property, contractor fraud, mail fraud, fraudulent check, concealed firearm, and many other criminal charges from the California Penal Code, Health and Safety Code, Business & Professional Code, and other areas of criminal law.


We clear warrants and resolve probation violations with the primary goal of keeping our clients out of jail. We have high success rates with our negotiation skills and well-planned presentations to the court.​


Traffic Crimes are often misunderstood for three reasons. First of all, most judges and prosecutors do not deal with the DMV or driver license matters beyond the court, so they are unfamiliar with most license and negligent operator issues. Likewise, most criminal defense attorneys do not have a background in traffic matters beyond DUIs, so they, too, have limited experience. Finally, many traffic crimes are cited as misdemeanors on regular traffic tickets (the cop circles the "M" on the right side of the ticket). It is not uncommon to be confused about whether it is actually a criminal case punishable with jail and subject to probation in criminal court.


Fortunately, Attorney David Dastrup has extensive experience with traffic matters, with a special focus on traffic crimes. We know how serious a conviction can be for your driving record. Avoiding jail is simply not enough. We focus on keeping your driving record clean, avoiding negligent operator points and a license suspension.


Most traffic misdemeanor convictions automatically cause negligent operator points, even 2 points for 7 years. Some traffic crimes cause an automatic license suspension by the DMV, even if the court takes no action against a driver license. For example, a hit and run with an accident causing property damage only, CVC 20002(a), causes an automatic driver license suspension, even up to a year for a Class A Commercial Driver License. However, other traffic misdemeanors, even more serious felonies, like evasion, CVC 2800.1 failing to stop for a police officer, or VC 2800.2 evading with reckless driving, do not cause an automatic suspension. However, the way the Vehicle Code is written encourages the court to suspend a license for up to 6 months.


There are many other California criminal traffic tickets, including: Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road, Reckless Driving, Speed Contest, Exhibition of Speed, Aiding and Abetting Speed Contest, Commercial Vehicle Overweight, Commercial Vehicle Exceeding Maximum Allowable Weight Limits, Driving on a Suspended License Due to a DUI Conviction, Fraudulent Registration, License Fraud, Lying to Police Investigating a Traffic Collision, for a few examples. The most common traffic criminal matter is a DUI. It is not uncommon for the police to cite a DUI on a regular ticket, which is actually a "Notice to Appear" in court, exactly as it states on the upper lefthand corner of the ticket. (In California, there are approximately 120,000 DUIs a year, including 100,000 misdemeanor DUI arrests with 80,000 as first time DUI arrests.)

Criminal traffic violations are punishable with jail, high fines, and are subject to probation and other consequences. If the court does not impose jail, community labor may be required. A judge can suspended a driver's license if the case involved speed. Some charges cause automatic license suspensions, like a hit and run conviction. Many charges result in negligent operator points, 2 points for 7 years.

It is important to avoid a criminal record, and sometimes more important to avoid a DMV record when you live in Southern California. Our experienced traffic-crimes defense attorney will fight for you. We have extensive experience getting traffic criminal matters dismissed and or reduced to avoid these serious consequences.

We understand that true legal representation is based on serving the individual client. This starts with your attorney having an in-depth conversation about your case, including your goals and concerns. We want to know about you and what you want. Your goals become our goals. Our Attorney becomes your Attorney.​

4worldlovers: Greg Hill & Associates, criminal defense attorneys in Torrance, understand how being charged with DUI, Domestic Violence, Drug Offenses (including Drug Possession, Transportation and/or Sales), Hit and Run, Attempted Murder, Mayhem, Shoplifting, Commercial Burglary, Tampering with a Vehicle, Public Intoxication, Solicitation of Prostitution, Child Molestation, Public Urination, Resisting Arrest or other crimes, including Juvenile Offenses, can shatter lives, affect employment and destroy families.

We appreciate that convictions for such offenses can lead to jail or prison time, being deported, having a professional license revoked or suspended, being denied a loan, being evicted, humiliation and divorce.

We also understand the sense of urgency one has with a bench warrant or being held in custody for extradition to another state.

Why Hire a Private Attorney Instead of Using a Public Defender?

If you or a loved one have been arrested, call us. Discussing your case will help you have a clearer idea of what defenses may apply and what punishment, if any, you could face. We will explain the general sequence of events in a criminal case so you know what will happen and when it will take place. If your loved one is in custody, we often go to visit the client in jail. We can then argue for own recognizance (“OR”) release, or in the alternative, a reduction of bail in light of alternative, non-monetary methods of ensuring public safety as set forth in the recent ruling in In re Kenneth Humphrey (January 25, 2018).

We appear most often in the Torrance, Long Beach, Compton, Inglewood, Airport, Metro, Downtown Los Angeles, Alhambra, Bellflower, Norwalk, Downey, Fullerton, West Covina and Westminster courts. We also appear in other courts throughout Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura Counties, as well as U.S. District Court (federal court). We can help you.

When the client is eligible, we will attempt to resolve misdemeanor cases under California Penal Code § 1001.1's diversion program. Section 1001.1 refers to the procedure of postponing prosecution of an offense filed as a misdemeanor either temporarily or permanently at any point in the judicial process from the point at which the accused is charged until adjudication.

There are additional diversion programs available for military veterans (Penal Code § 1001.80) and mental health issues (Penal Code § 1001.36).

There are also programs called Bad Check Diversion and Parental Diversion that may apply to help one avoid a conviction. Our Torrance criminal defense attorneys handle all misdemeanor, felony and civil restraining order cases, as well as juvenile matters and DMV Hearings.

We also file motions to modify probation or to end it early (for possible expungement later), petitions to seal an arrest record and court file (Penal Code §§ 851.91 and 851.92), for expungement (Penal Code § 1203.4) and petitions for factual innocence (Penal Code § 851.8). We also have experience with Certificates of Rehabilitation and motions for reclassification of a felony as a misdemeanor under Penal Code § 17(b), as well as under Prop 64 and Prop 47. Increasingly, we have filed more and more motions to vacate a conviction under Penal Code § 1473.7 based on a plea being entered without the defendant being properly advised of the immigration consequences of such a plea.Our results, experience, compassion, hard work and skill have helped us gain a reputation as the “go-to” guys with a sense of urgency if someone faces criminal charges. Dismissals, pre-filing diversion and reduction of charges are not uncommon for our clients.

Greg Hill, a former Marine, is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate (Annapolis) and Loyola Law School graduate. He has been practicing criminal law for over 22 years as a criminal defense lawyer. He has handled both high-profile cases that were in the news and far less glamorous cases that predominate in our courts. He has been recognized by the National Advocacy of DUI Defense (NAFDD) as one of the top 100 DUI Defense Attorneys in California, one of the top 100 trial attorneys in the United States, as well as one of the 15 Best Criminal Defense Attorneys in the United States for 2014 as featured in Newsweek.com. He also has earned “Superb” 10.0 rating by Avvo, the highest rating attainable and is ranked second in the world for points under Avvo’s system. He also is a member of the Benjamin Aranda Inns of Court.