Child Abuse Charges | San Diego Child Abuse Lawyer

- Hi, my name is David Shapiro,I'm a San Diego based criminal(inaudible)to do when charged
with child abuse.Child abuse in California
is generally prosecutedunder Penal Code
section 273, and thenthere is small a,
ab, all those typesof fancy letters after it,but generally speaking
child abuse can beprosecuted as, you know,
you spank your child,or it could be all the way
to cases alleged, you know,with what's infamously referred
to as shaken baby syndrome,or instances of child
abuse could lead to death.On the high end of it, you know,I've represented people
charged with allegationsof hurting their child
under the shaken baby,you know, triad of symptoms,
and you wind up in asituation where
you, as the accused,brings your child to the
hospital with goodwill,good intentions, whether
you're responsiblefor the injuries or not,
and the next thing you know,you'll be speaking to doctors
and the next thing you knowyou're speaking to Child
Protective Servicesinvestigators, and next
thing you know you'respeaking to detectives
from the police department.You shouldn't be speaking
to detectives fromthe police department, and
if you don't like the toneor the direction of
the CPS investigation,you should definitely
get yourself an attorneywhether you're responsible
for these injuries or not.But, you know, child
abuse in and of itself,if convicted of it, at the very
least if granted probation,requires one year of
parental counselling.That's something a
lot of times I advisemy clients to do proactively.As far as getting that done
or starting those classescan be more stuff to
negotiate a favorable outcomeif that's in their
best interest.On the more serious ends of it,you know, child abuse
in general carriessignificant penalties,
you could get up tosix years in state
prison just for a felonychild abuse case
that's not includinggreat bodily injury
enhancements.If those enhancements
are alleged and proven,you know, you could basically
double your sentence,and if great bodily injury
is imposed on an infantor newborn, or child
under a year, at least,you know, you could
be facing up to twelveyears and 85% at state prison.So, less is more when
discussing with law enforcement,certainly when discussing with
Child Protective Services.These types of cases,
if you feel you'reunder investigation, or
even if you think you mightone day be, you
know, be proactive,hire yourself a good attorney,and you know, because
you want to balanceprotecting your child and
giving the medical teamall the information they
need to help your child,but you also don't
want to turn theinvestigation to focus on you,whether it's justified or not.So that's why you
definitely want tospeak to an attorney
when under investigationor when you believe
anyone out therebelieves you might