Shawn Nelson – Freedom Fighter and Defender of the Accused

Fullerton City Councilman Shawn Nelson has represented the people of his city on the City Council since 2003.  Throughout his political career Nelson has painted himself with the brush of fiscal conservatism and most, if not all, Christian moral values.

In his day job, Shawn Nelson is a criminal defense attorney. It is an admirable profession, defending those accused of crimes, regardless of their guilt or innocence. This is a core function of our American system of justice. Without criminal defense attorneys, our system simply does not work.

Since May of 2008, Shawn Nelson has systematically tried to scrub from the website of his law firm, all record of the valiant work he performs. I really cannot understand why he doesn’t want people to know where he gets his money to fund his campaign for Supervisor. As a proud defender of the Constitution, I would think he would be proud of what he does. Defending the indefensible is what he does best, and of that he has every reason to be proud.

Just as Shawn Nelson provides the “public service” of criminal defense, I hope to bring to the voters of the Orange County Fourth Supervisor’s District the picture of Shawn Nelson that he really doesn’t want you to know. To that end, I will present a series of articles highlighting a “Day in the Life of Shawn Nelson – Criminal Defense Attorney.”

There is a great deal of information that Shawn Nelson has scrubbed from his version of history. So much so, that it will take a series of articles to present it all. So with that said, I present Part One.

Using the Wayback Machine at http://www.web.archives.org I found the archive of his business website http://www.rizioandnelson.com. Below is how Nelson and his law partner describe their work as “Southern California Criminal Defense Attorneys.”

Welcome to Rizio & Nelson your attorneys for criminal defense legal matters in the Inland Empire. If you or a loved one are facing a criminal charge, contact our office for a free consultation by telephone 24 hours a day. If you (or a loved one) has been arrested in a criminal matter, you will need an attorney that can help you protect your rights. Attorney Greg Rizio is a former Deputy District Attorney and along with our knowledgeable staff, we understand the process that you have been through being arrested, fingerprinted, photographed and placed in jail, and understand what a traumatic experience this is.

In addition to this trauma, you are now facing charges that affect you, your family, your job, your freedom and even your home. In addition to the feelings of anger, confusion and fear, you realize that a conviction on any criminal charge will continue to haunt you for many years, even hurting your ability to get or keep a job. California Criminal Defense Attorneys/Lawyers at Rizio & Nelson realize that their job is to prevent this from happening and to keep your name clear of any criminal charges.

When you retain California Criminal Defense Attorneys/Lawyers at Rizio & Nelson to defend you not only are you getting attorneys who will treat you with the utmost respect and compassion, but you will get expert legal help from attorneys who know how to guide your case through the judicial system. We will talk to the District Attorney prosecuting your case to obtain any proof that is available to help us understand the exact charges that are being brought against you. We will also request access to the evidence that is available prior to court dates beginning to help us construct your defense. Keep in mind that just because something was written in a police report, does not mean it is always accurate. The District Attorney always has the burden of proof on all charges filed against you, we do not have to prove you are innocent of the charges filed against you rather; the District Attorney has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you have committed the crime (or crimes) you are accused of committing. There are many possible challenges that can be made to a criminal complaint once it has been filed against you and working with you we will formulate the best possible defense to the charges.

They describe their many areas of practice in helpful categories such as:

SEXUAL CRIMES
Child Abuse
Child Enticement
Child Pornography
Date Rape
Failure to Register
Indecent Exposure
Internet Pornography
Lewd/Lascivious Conduct
Marital Rape
Molestation
Obscenity
Pandering/Pimping
Pornography
Prostitution
Rape
Sexual Abuse
Sexual Assault
Sexual Harassment
Statutory Rape

Let’s take a look deeper at the area of Child Enticement. Here is what Nelson has to say on the matter.

California Child Enticement Attorneys

Unfortunately child enticement has an extremely broad definition and it is possible that this charge may be rendered against a person who had no actual criminal intent. Fortunately the prosecution has the burden to prove intent to harm the victim. Defined as attempting to entice, lure or persuade any child to enter, stay or leave any building, vehicle or place with the use of force or with intent to commit indecent assault, battery, commit rape, disseminate material harmful to children, committing indecent exposure, unnatural or lascivious acts or other charges unfortunately provides many opportunities for abuse of the system.

All of us are aware that any crime against children involves high emotions, and can create not only personal pain, but the stigma of being associated with any type of an abuse charge against a child will follow you the rest of your life and will affect your home life and your employment.

Because prosecutors are under such pressure to not only charge someone with these crimes but even more pressure to successfully prosecute and ‘make the charges stick’ many times they find ways to question the victims (children) in ways that are most beneficial to their case and most damaging to the defendant.

Anyone facing child enticement charges needs a legal defense team with experience and expertise in the field of crimes against children. At Rizio & Nelson our experienced legal team is here twenty four hours a day, seven days a week to make sure that you understand your legal rights when faced with these types of charges.

We thank you for visiting the website of California Child Enticement Lawyers/Attorneys.

Then there is this description of how they defend clients accused of Child Molestation.

California Molestation Defense Attorneys

In general terms, molestation is defined as the harassment by way of unwanted or indecent advances for the purposes of sexual gratification. Most serious and more becoming more common is child molestation (defined as sexual advances on a child under the age of 14).

A seemingly meaningless and casual comment made by a child to anyone required by law to report such incidents may result in serious criminal charges. This can happen even if the child and family deny any problems.

Careful and skilled pre-trial research often results charges in these types of cases being dropped prior to a trial ever happening. However, if a trial does become necessary, then we will discuss with you all of the potential strategies we can use in your defense.

If you are facing molestation charges, it is critical that you obtain legal counsel as early as possible and use a defense team with specific experience and proven results in molestation cases. The law offices of Rizio & Nelson are here to assist you in this difficult time

We thank you for visiting the website of California Molestation Defense Attorneys/Lawyers.

I will highlight more of these examples of Mr. Nelson’s honorable service to our system of justice. It is easy for someone to prosecute accused criminals, but not so easy a task to defend those who are accused. Mr. Nelson should be proud of his work, not ashamed of it.