By Sarah Chayet
VAN NUYS, CA – The amount of credit for time served by an accused was briefly contested by Deputy District Attorney Arin Friedman here this past week at Los Angeles Superior Court, during a pretrial conference, despite the offer of the court mirroring the offer of the prosecution.
The accused had already been in jail for approximately 474 days, and according to Deputy Public Defender Christina Zaimi, had already completed some community service.
The prosecution began the pretrial conference by presenting a new protective order to the court and asking for an enhancement of “four years of formal probation and 365 days in jail,” as stated by DDA Friedman. The accused had been arrested for charges of stalking in 2022.
One condition of the accused’s probation was that “he has to admit that he had a dating relationship with the victim,” said DDA Friedman. “These are the standard terms for domestic violence.
“Search and seizure would involve all electronic devices since (the crime) involved communication with an electronic device,” said DDA Friedman, adding community service was required to be completed by the accused, another parameter of domestic violence cases.
“We would object to the community service,” said DPD Zaimi, who argued the accused had already done community service previously, in addition to serving the excess time over and above the 365-day jail sentence.
“It’s the law…there’s nothing I can do,” said DDA Friedman. Though DPD Zaimi argued the accused had already completed community service, DDA Friedman could not allow that time to apply to these new terms because of a legal requirement.
After some discussion, the defense and prosecution agreed to a minimum amount of community service time assigned for the accused.
“One day is fine,” said Judge Thomas Rubinson, referring to the amount of time the accused would spend doing community service.
While Judge Rubinson continued to restate the conditions of the accused’s sentence, probation, and credit for time served, DDA Friedman began to challenge the terms of the accused’s probation, stating that the prosecution’s offer was different from what the court was offering now.
“Where does the court get 365 days?” asked DDA Friedman.
“He’s got more than time served,” said Judge Rubinson. “He has 109 days in excess.
“I don’t have time to explain it to you,” said Judge Rubinson. The court maintained the terms of 365 days in jail and four years of formal probation for the accused, along with the other measures listed by DDA Friedman.
“I also want to make it clear to (the accused) that the firearm ban is a lifetime ban,” said DDA Friedman.
DDA Friedman also indicated the victim will be requesting restitution, to which Judge Rubinson responded, “This is the first I’ve heard of restitution.” There is to be another hearing to decide what that restitution amount will be.
