Robbery Defense Lawyer in Salinas

Certified Criminal Law Specialists Defending Robbery Charges in Monterey County

A robbery charge isn’t a theft charge with a heavier sentence. It’s a separate offense carrying its own mandatory felony classification, strike status under California law, and enhancements that can stack decades onto a base sentence. The timeline for building a defense starts the moment an arrest happens. The Worthington Law Centre is a family-owned criminal defense firm based in Salinas. Our two lead attorneys are both Certified Specialists in Criminal Law through the California State Bar’s Board of Legal Specialization, a credential held by fewer than one percent of attorneys in the state. With more than 50 years of experience defending serious criminal charges across Monterey County and San Benito County, we know what these cases require.

What California Law Means by “Robbery”

California Penal Code 211 defines robbery as the felonious taking of personal property in another person’s possession, from their person or immediate presence, against their will, through force or fear. Every element matters. The force required must go beyond the incidental contact of simply grabbing something. A pickpocket who takes a wallet without the victim noticing hasn’t used force or fear, and that generally isn’t robbery. The moment a victim is aware and confronted, the analysis changes.

Robbery also differs from extortion in an important way: in extortion, the victim agrees under threat to hand over property; in robbery, no such consent exists. The number of robbery counts is determined by the number of victims, not the number of items taken. Taking three items from one person is one count. Taking property from two people during the same incident is two counts.

First-Degree & Second-Degree Robbery Penalties

California divides robbery into two degrees based on where it occurs and how it’s carried out. Any robbery that doesn’t qualify as first degree is second-degree robbery, punishable by two, three, or five years in state prison.

First-degree robbery covers specific elevated circumstances:

• ATM robberies: Targeting someone who has just used or is near an automated teller machine
• Transit robberies: Targeting the driver or a passenger of a bus, taxi, streetcar, cable car, trolley, or other transportation for hire
• Home-invasion robberies: Committed inside an inhabited dwelling by a defendant acting with two or more other people, carrying a sentence of three, six, or nine years in state prison

Either degree can result in fines up to $10,000 in addition to prison time. Any robbery conviction also counts as a strike under California’s Three Strikes law, which affects future criminal matters a defendant may face.

Sentencing Enhancements That Increase Exposure

The base robbery sentence is rarely the ceiling. Prosecutors routinely attach enhancements that can multiply total exposure significantly.

Great Bodily Injury
If the robbery caused serious physical harm to a victim, this enhancement adds three to six years on top of the base sentence.

Firearm Use (“10-20-Life”)
Using a firearm during a robbery adds ten years. Personally and intentionally firing the weapon adds twenty. If the gun caused great bodily injury or death, the enhancement is twenty-five years to life.

Three Strikes Exposure
A defendant with two prior serious or violent felony convictions who is then convicted of robbery faces a minimum of twenty-five years to life. Beyond incarceration, a robbery conviction permanently bars the defendant from owning or purchasing firearms.