FEDERAL CRIMINAL LAWYERS

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You got arrested in Avalon — on Santa Catalina Island, 26 miles off the California coast, where the LA County Sheriff just put you in handcuffs and now you’re sitting at the Avalon Station (215 Sumner Avenue) realizing that being arrested on an island accessible only by ferry creates logistical problems that don’t exist in Van Nuys or Pasadena. The sheriff’s boat to mainland LA County Jail leaves in 6 hours — or maybe it doesn’t leave until tomorrow if the weather turns. You don’t know if you’ll be released on bail here on the island or transported to the mainland, and you don’t know if your arraignment will happen at the tiny Catalina Courthouse (which operates 2-3 days per week) or if you’ll have to take the $70 ferry back and forth from the mainland for court appearances every month for the next year. You’re facing criminal charges in LA County — same prosecutors, same judges, same Penal Code sections as every other defendant in Los Angeles — but the ferry schedule, the 8-12 deputies who cover the entire island, and the fact that half the witnesses to your alleged crime were tourists who left on yesterday’s 3pm boat create constitutional defenses that exist nowhere else in California.

What Happens in 48 Hours

You’re arrested by an LA County Sheriff’s deputy from Avalon Station — one of maybe 10 deputies covering all of Santa Catalina Island where everyone knows everyone and the deputies probably know your name before they even run your ID, you’re booked at 215 Sumner Avenue in a holding cell that can’t hold more than 3-4 people at a time, and the island has no long-term jail facility capable of housing defendants beyond 48-72 hours, which means within 48 hours you’re either released on citation (misdemeanor DUI, petty theft under Penal Code §484, simple assault under §242), released on bail to await arraignment on the island, or transported by sheriff’s boat to mainland LA County Jail in downtown Los Angeles where you’ll be processed through Twin Towers or Men’s Central Jail and held until your arraignment — and here’s the problem: the Fourth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment, and the Sixth Amendment don’t care about ferry schedules, so if you’re held at Avalon Station beyond 48 hours because the sheriff’s boat to the mainland is delayed by weather, that violates the rule established in County of Riverside v. McLaughlin, 500 U.S. 44 (1991), and “administrative convenience” isn’t a valid excuse for delay even though Catalina Island weather can ground helicopters and delay boats for days, and small-island law enforcement resources mean transport logistics regularly fail to meet constitutional deadlines. There’s another Fourth Amendment issue that appears in almost every Avalon arrest — deputies search your residence or vehicle without a warrant, claiming they had to act immediately because you could “flee the island” on the next ferry, but if the Catalina Express schedule shows the next departure isn’t for 8 hours, or if you’re already in custody when deputies search your home, the exigency justification collapses, and a motion to suppress evidence under Penal Code §1538.5 can get drugs, weapons, or stolen property excluded from trial because small-island law enforcement creates unique risks of Fourth Amendment violations where deputies know defendants personally and “community caretaking” exceptions to the warrant requirement get stretched beyond what the Constitution allows. Then there’s the Fifth Amendment Miranda problem during booking at Avalon Station when deputies engage in “friendly conversation” — you’re not formally interrogated, you’re not read your rights, but the deputy who arrested you starts asking questions about what happened, and you answer because it feels casual, and those statements can be suppressed unless your attorney argues you were in custody and the conversation was interrogation requiring Miranda warnings, which it was.

Where Your Case Goes

Your arraignment happens in one of two places. Misdemeanors and preliminary hearings are handled at the Catalina Courthouse, located at 323 Metropole Avenue in Avalon. This is a small courthouse that operates 2-3 days per week. If you posted bail, your arraignment might be scheduled 3-4 weeks after arrest simply because the court doesn’t hold criminal calendars every day.

Serious felonies — murder, rape, robbery, drug sales under Health & Safety Code §11351, assault with a deadly weapon under Penal Code §245(a)(1) — get transferred to mainland LA County Superior Court. If you’re out on bail and living on the island, every pretrial hearing requires a 1-hour ferry to Long Beach ($37.50 each way), then a drive to downtown LA or LAX Courthouse. Miss one court date because the ferry was delayed, and a bench warrant issues.

Your attorney faces the same problem. Every court appearance requires travel to the island for witness interviews, then travel to mainland courthouses for hearings. That’s why legal fees for Avalon cases run $7,500-$15,000 for misdemeanors, $25,000-$50,000+ for felonies — not because attorneys are greedy, but because representing someone arrested on Catalina Island requires many, many hours of ferry travel that mainland cases don’t involve.

Here’s where the Sixth Amendment creates an advantage: if the alleged victim or key witnesses were tourists visiting Catalina Island for the weekend, they testified at your preliminary hearing on the island, then left and can’t be located months later when your case goes to trial, the prosecution may try to introduce their preliminary hearing testimony. But Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), says the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause requires that you have the right to cross-examine witnesses at trial — not just at a preliminary hearing. If the prosecution can’t produce the witness for trial, their testimony gets excluded, and the case often collapses. This happens frequently in Avalon cases because tourists leave the island within 24-48 hours and can’t be found months later.

Island Arrest Defenses

The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures — and what’s “reasonable” in a city of 4 million people is different from what’s reasonable on an island of 3,700 where 10 deputies know everyone by name. Avalon Station deputies often justify warrantless searches by claiming “exigent circumstances” or “community caretaking.” But the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that these exceptions are narrow — exigency requires immediate action with no time to get a warrant, and community caretaking applies to true emergencies, not criminal investigations disguised as welfare checks.

If deputies searched your residence without a warrant because “we thought you might leave on the next ferry,” your attorney should file a suppression motion arguing: (1) you were already in custody, so flight risk was eliminated, (2) the ferry schedule shows no departures for several hours, so exigency didn’t exist, (3) deputies had time to call an on-call magistrate judge to get a warrant, and they didn’t. If the search is suppressed, the evidence gets excluded.

The Fifth Amendment protects against self-incrimination and guarantees due process. If you’re held beyond 48 hours without arraignment because of ferry delays, that violates County of Riverside v. McLaughlin — the remedy is release, possibly dismissal. If deputies questioned you during booking without Miranda warnings, those statements should be suppressed.

The Sixth Amendment guarantees speedy trial, confrontation of witnesses, and effective counsel. Ferry logistics and limited Catalina Courthouse availability can delay proceedings beyond constitutional limits. The confrontation issue — tourists who testified at preliminary hearing then disappeared — has already been explained: Crawford requires the witness appear at trial, and if they’re gone, their earlier testimony is inadmissible.

Why You Need an Avalon Attorney

Most LA criminal defense attorneys practice in Van Nuys, Downtown, Pasadena — they know LA County procedure, handled hundreds of cases. But they’ve never dealt with Catalina Island logistics — they don’t know that the Catalina Courthouse operates 2 days a week, they don’t know how to coordinate island witness interviews with mainland motions, they don’t know that tourist witnesses disappear after the weekend, and they don’t know how to litigate Fourth Amendment suppression motions based on small-island exigent circumstances claims. You need an attorney who has handled Avalon cases before — someone who knows that ferry travel adds many, many hours to case preparation, who understands that small-island law enforcement creates unique constitutional vulnerabilities, and who can exploit witness unavailability in plea negotiations.

An attorney who quotes you $3,000 for a “simple DUI” has never handled an Avalon case — and that false economy will cost you when the attorney skips island investigation, misses Fourth Amendment suppression opportunities, and fails to challenge the prosecution’s reliance on tourist witnesses who can’t be located for trial.

The “” criminal defense attorney for your Avalon case isn’t the big-name LA lawyer who represents celebrities on TV — it’s the attorney who combines (1) deep knowledge of LA County criminal procedure, (2) experience with Catalina Island logistics and Catalina Courthouse procedure, and (3) constitutional litigation skills to challenge Fourth Amendment searches, Fifth Amendment Miranda violations, and Sixth Amendment confrontation violations unique to small-island arrests.

Don’t tell your attorney “Everyone on the island knows I did it so there’s no point fighting” — small-island gossip isn’t admissible evidence, and constitutional violations can get charges dismissed regardless of what “everyone knows.” Don’t assume the deputy who arrested you followed proper Fourth Amendment procedure just because he’s your neighbor’s friend — small-community familiarity is exactly what leads to constitutional violations. And don’t hire a cut-rate attorney who has never handled Avalon cases — that $5,000 savings will cost you when your attorney doesn’t know how to challenge the search, suppress the statements, or exploit witness unavailability.

Call 212-300-5196.