Long Beach Criminal Law Specialist, Attorney Matthew Kaestner

05/03/2026

New criminal laws in California in 2026 include laws that regulate A.I. generated police reports and prohibit high tech burglary tools and signal jammers. Johns can now be punished for loitering with the intent to purchase commercial s*x. Read my new page on new California criminal laws:

Police reports generated using body worn cameras in combination with A.I. will be regulated by law. High tech burglary tools and signal jammers ...

07/29/2022

Today I was able to get a client freed who has served 12 years of what was going to be a 40 year sentenced after filing a writ of habeas corpus in May. The officer that testified at Miguel Vargas' trial in 2011 was recently charged with perjury and terminated. One reporter covering the story actually used a quote I've been throwing around for awhile: “'He got 39 years for assaulting the officer’s gun with his back,' Kaestner said." For the full story:

Miguel Vargas of Long Beach was serving a 39-year prison sentence on a conviction of assaulting the officer, who has been charged with perjury in an unrelated case.

05/26/2022

Criminal specialist Kaestner is seeking to overturn the conviction and free Miguel Vargas who was convicted of assaulting an officer who actually shot Vargas twice in the back. Vargas is currently serving the 12th year of a 39 year sentence. The officer who shot Vargas was recently prosecuted for felony charges including perjury and filing a false police report. The officer had a 16 year history of complaints of misconduct and excessive force that eventually resulted in the felony charges and a recent $500,000 civil award for breaking the elbow of a local bus driver during a "detention." On May 10, 2022, the Court gave the prosecution 15 days to reply to the attorney Kaestner's petition. The Press Telegram reported the matter yesterday.

The case is one of hundreds in question after two Long Beach police officers were arrested in December on suspicion of falsifying police reports.

03/31/2022

What started out as a murder case ended with a fizzle as the government persuaded a Long Beach judge to imprison a man on drug charges who buried a fellow partier who had overdosed at his home. The Long Beach Post had the best coverage.

"He lured young men, many of them who were vulnerable and struggling with addiction, to his s*x dungeon with the promise of drugs," a judge said as he sentenced the defendant to six years and eight months.

02/09/2022

New criminal laws in California in 2022 make nunchuks legal and police gangs illegal. Defendants who have sufferred childhood, domestic partner, human trafficking and other abuse can raise their prior victimization and coercion as a defense to all but violent crimes. Fake ballot boxes and voting station electioneering are prohibited as are police techniques that cause "positional asphyxia.” For more on these new laws and others, Long Beach Criminal Law Specialist, Attorney Matthew Kaestner has a new page entitled New Criminal Laws in California for 2022.

Police gangs are now prohibited but nunchucks aren’t.  New criminal laws in 2022 continued the liberalization of sentencing laws, restrictions on police conduct, and the recognition of the effects of youth and prior victimization as a cause of anti-social behavior.  Police officers must be at le...

12/13/2021

On December 8, 2021, the District Attorney's Office in Long Beach suffered yet another defeat in their efforts to hold a Long Beach man responsible for a tragic overdose death. Attorney Kaestner was previously succesful in having murder charges dismissed by a Judge in January of 2021. However, the D.A. refiled murder charges in November of 2021 after dismissing the case prior to a scheduled trial. A local judge familiar with the case set bail on the murder charge at one dollar ($1). At a second preliminary hearing on the re-filing, another judge dismissed not only the murder charge, but also a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. Originally the case drew national attention as attorney Kaestner's client buried the decedent in his yard. The press also reported the recent dismissal of the homicide charges. https://usanewssite.com/culture/for-second-time-murder-charge-is-tossed-in-case-involving-missing-california-man/

01/28/2021

Judge has courage to dismiss murder charge in case of overdose death and backyard burial in Long Beach.

Zach Kennedy's body was found mutilated and buried in a Long Beach yard, but a judge today ruled he was not murdered.

01/22/2021

New criminal laws in California in 2021 attack racial discrimination by prosecutors and prohibit racial profiling in jury selection. Police choke holds are outlawed. Prisons for juveniles will be phased out. Probation was shortened for misdemeanors and felonies. Parolees can now vote. For more information go to attorney Kaestner’s new page:

New criminal laws in 2021 include laws prohibiting racial discrimination by prosecutors and in jury selection. Juvenile laws were reformed and juvenile prisons will be phased out. Police choke holds have been outlawed. Shortened probation terms and diversion continue the trend of easing the effects....

12/24/2020

New Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascon promised a radical change in how his office would prosecute. On December 7, 2020 he dropped 9 new directives that delivered on that promise. His office will no longer seek the death penalty nor file prior strikes, gang, gun, injury, and other enhancements in most instances. Persons who have served more than 15 years and others will have their sentences reviewed. Juveniles will no longer be prosecuted as adults, for any crime. For more on this attack on mass incarceration, Long Beach criminal law specialist, Attorney Matthew Kaestner has a new page:

New District Attorney George Gascon took office on December 7, 2020, and immediately issued new policy directives that radically changed criminal law in all of Los Angeles county and the Long Beach Courts. New D.A. Gascon instituted a dramatic softening of the sentences sought by the District Attorn...

09/18/2020

Criminal courts in Long Beach are slowly gearing up, after Covid 19 orders stopped all jury trials in criminal cases in March of 2020. The most recent orders issued for LA County on August 10, 2020, added 30 days to all criminal cases that were scheduled to start between August 14 and October 13. Although no order has yet to be issued concerning trials set to start in September, the chance of more than a token few trials starting in Long Beach or greater LA County anytime soon does not seem probable.