Client Doing Donuts by Torrance Airport, Judicial Diversion

At 1:33 a.m. one morning in early January 2024, our client, age 24, was observed driving his 1999 Mazda Miata around in circles in the large parking lot at the corner of Skypark and Madison Avenues in Torrance.

The Torrance Police Officer who saw our client doing this described our client as “placing his vehicle at a high turn angle and applying excessive throttle to cause the car to spin uncontrollably.”  Some may call this “doing donuts.”

The officer then drove over to the parking lot and stopped our client, who had no passengers.  No one else was in the vicinity watching our client.

The officer stopped our client and asked for his driver’s license, which our client handed over to the officer.  The officer then filled out a ticket for violation of Vehicle Code § 23103(b), “reckless driving,” and circled “M” to designate the offense level a misdemeanor.

The officer then called Van Lingen Towing to the location to tow our client’s car to their impound lot.  The vehicle would stay there for three days until our client paid enormous towing fees, even though the Van Lingen tow yard was less than a mile from the Skypark/ Madison parking lot.

Our client was transported to the Torrance Police station and later picked up by his parents.

A few days later, he called Greg Hill & Associates and spoke with Greg.  The client described what had happened and expressed surprise that what he was doing was illegal because no one was injured.  The client commented that the tow truck driver told him that his car was the third such car towed that week from the same parking lot at night for similar conduct.

Greg then explained how reckless driving cases are handled in the Torrance Courthouse and what judicial diversion under Penal Code § 1001.94 was.  Greg also recommended that the client enroll in and take on online safe driving course ASAP to show he was “taking ownership” of his conduct and trying to understand why reckless driving was unsafe and illegal.  Greg explained that the client should give Greg a copy of the completion certificate for Greg to take to court to show the Torrance City Prosecutor, to argue that punishment should be less because the client was being accountable for the offense and trying to educate himself on the value of driving safe.

Greg also explained how he would write a letter to the Torrance City Prosecutor, enclosing the certificate and describing the client briefly (he was a graduate of a prestigious Midwestern University with a highly ranked engineering program) and explaining that he had no criminal history.  The letter would suggest no case be filed under the facts and given our client’s history and achievements in life.

The client then retained Greg Hill & Associates and Greg immediately wrote and sent the above-described letter to the Torrance City Prosecutor once the client completed the online safe driving course (he did it the same day as his call to Greg Hill & Associates).

After Greg mailed the letter to the Torrance City Prosecutor, the client called our office several times to ask if the Torrance City Prosecutor had responded in any way.  Each time, Greg had to tell the client no and assure the client that if he did respond, Greg would immediately let the client know so and what the response was.

Inevitably, the day for the arraignment arrived and Greg went to the Torrance Superior Court on the client’s behalf.  Unfortunately, a misdemeanor complaint against our client was filed.

Greg then discussed the police report with the Torrance City Prosecutor and showed him our client’s proof of completing the online safe driving course.

The Torrance City Prosecutor’s plea bargain offer was that our client would enter a plea of no contest to Vehicle Code § 23109(b), “reckless driving,” and then be placed on one year of informal (summary probation) with no jail, but with an obligation to pay a court fine of $300 (plus penalties and assessments that would boost the total owed to about $1,400), attend an eight-hour safe driving course or attend the Street Racing Kills (SRK) program, perform 40 hours of community service and obey all laws.

Greg politely declined this offer and instead asked the judge to place the client on judicial diversion instead.  The judge agreed, placing our client on six months of judicial diversion, wherein the client would have to perform 20 hours of community service, attend an eight hour traffic safety course and pay a $100 court diversion fee.  Greg accepted judicial diversion for our client and the judge accepted our client’s online safe driving course as completing the eight-hour traffic safety course.

The client was very happy with this outcome because if he successfully completed judicial diversion, the case would be dismissed and the client would then be eligible to have the police report and the court file sealed under Penal Code §§ 851.91 and 851.92.