SanDiegoDefenders

San Diego criminal defense law firm with over 60 years combined experience in DUI defense, drug charges, border arrests, and other criminal defense cases. In 1990, Daniel Smith began San Diego Defenders APC, an affordable criminal defense law firm located across the street from the Chula Vista courthouse in the Southern Division of San Diego Superior Court.

Attorney partners Dan Smith and Jon Pettis have produced over 50 informational videos called the DUI Minute to answer the most common questions people facing drunken driving and other criminal charges while in the County or crossing the Tijuana Mexico border.

You can call the lawyer, Dan Smith, directly for a free consultation or to set up an office meeting. It is free, easy, confidential and might help you sleep tonight!

San Diego Defenders
State and Federal Criminal Defense/DUI & DMV Cases
585 Third Ave
Chula Vista, CA 91910
24 Hrs. (619) 258-8888
Direct Office Line (619) 233-6900
www.sandiegodefenders.com

SanDiegoDefenders
Before starting San Diego Defenders, attorney Dan Smith founded the first pedicab company in San Diego's own Gaslamp Quarter in November 1995. Here's an old advertisement to take a look into pedicab history.
Our office is located very close to the border into Tijuana. Many fine ladies travel from the US into Tijuana for plastic surgery like a “Mom Makeover” , Tummy Tuck and the likes. The Doctors in Tijuana all want to be paid in cash as in US Currency on the day of Surgery. The amount is almost always in excess of $10,000 and Ladies often with their Husbands will split up the cash savings to amounts around 5 or 6 thousand in hopes that will exclude them from filing a FinCen form for US Customs. The problem is that customs Agents know this and when they are crossing into Mexico from the US they sometimes ask, “What is the purpose of your visit?” “Are you carrying any cash or currency of any kind” It is important to note that Customs will Treat ALL of the group as ONE and they will add all of your US currency, Pesos, and even checks. Most of the time it is over the $10,000 limit and they will SEIZE all the money. In some cases that you do not specify what you are traveling to buy, they will have a dog alert on the currency and seize the money. We fight the Federal Forfeiture for you and Have been successful in the cases we accept. It is a complicated process and if your money is seized you will receive a confusing letter that does not explain the pros and cons of the way you ELECT to proceed after receiving the Notice of Forfeiture and Information to Claimants. Contact us at San Diego Defenders (619) 258-8888. In many cases there is only 20 days to file correctly. I will explain your options and evaluate your case. If we take your case we get your money back. Call us today!
San Diego Defenders Forfeiture Law Firm got a call yesterday from an 18 year old high school senior. He was worried that his parents would be notified that his car was seized by the Border Patrol outside of Jamul, California because it was a graduation gift from his parents, but the car was registered and titled under his name only. The answer is NO. But the letter sent by the US Customs and Border Protection sometimes referred to as the Notice of Seizure and Information to Claimants CAFRA Form will arrive via certified mail. That means somebody at your home will have to sign the little green cars to recieve that very important letter. So we sometimes tell your young clients that Dan Smith, the supervising attorney, will explain the civil forfeiture election of proceedings to your parents when the law firm is retained. San Diego Defenders is affordable. Call us at (619) 258-8888.
Many young adults and teenagers are on the registration and title with their parents or grandparents. If that car is seized, the teenager wonders if the co-owner parents will find out even though the teenager was NOT charged or given a court date. The answer is YES the co-owner parent will find out. The Notice of Seizure and Information to Claimants' letter from the CBP goes to all registered owners and the driver of the vehicle. The CBP Officers usually tell the driver that "a letter will be sent within 60 days" but it is usually 2-3 weeks. The Notice of Seizure letter is scary to recieve. Many people think that the Notice of Seizure letter is for notice of criminal charges. It is not. The CBP Notice of Seizure letter is confusing. Which of the "four" election of proceedings choice is best to make when you want to get your vehicle back as soon as possible if it is possible? Call San Diego Defenders Forfeiture Law Firm at (619) 258-8888 and we can speak with your parents. We only take cases we believe will wing. We are affordable and offer payment plans to help you through the federal process.
"That is not how it works. It has never happened in the 34 years I have been practicing law" says founder of San Diego Defenders - Forfeiture Law Firm. We get calls from people every week saying "The customs letter says I just have to pay the APV value of the vehicle and I can get it back this weekend, right?" Sadly, we have to tell them that we have never seen that work and that would be a lot of money! Especially if you owe a LOT of money on the vehicle! After 34 years of helping clients fight the forfeiture proceeding under 19 USC 1614, the Forfeiture Law Firm has never seen that work. Many people read the notice of seizure and information to claimants CAFRA letter and focus in on the APV value or appraised property value dollar amount and think that it is what has to be paid to get your car, truck or any type of vehicle released from Customs seized car lot but that is not the case. Call San Diego Defenders - Forfeiture Law Firm at (619) 258 - 8888 for guidance.
Two Facts that people get WRONG after their vehicle is seized by the CBP are: 1. That the owners of the vehicle THINK they can go pick up their car or truck at the tow yard or CBP checkpoint in the days that follow the seizure of the Vehicle. That is NOT the case. The Defense against a Federal Forfeiture is a process that can take months to resolve if done improperly and is a two step process even when done correctly. That is that a Agreement for release must be negotiated AND a Release Order also known as a Disposition Order must be obtained just to make the appointment to pick up the vehicle. WHY are people confused? Most of the time it is because the owner of the Car or Truck was not in the Vehicle and therefore think it is just a matter of picking up the vehicle at the impound lot. Again, it is important to remember that the Federal Forfeiture Laws and process is somewhat complicated and the CBP personal that pick up the phone don’t explain he process as well as might be needed. And Why should they? The Federal Forfeiture of Vehicles and Cash for that matter Make them money for Overtime and Bonuses. Give us a call at San Diego Defenders Forfeiture Law Firm and We will explain your options. When you retain us for a small fee, Our job is to get your car or truck back to you as soon as possible for the least expense. Call us today at 619-258-8888
Young Adults’ - Do I Have To Pay CBP APV TO Get My Car After Seizure? At San Diego Defenders, we get a lot of young adults and their parents calling us about the appraise value or “APV” given on the CAFRA Notice of Seizure letter. “ Do I have to pay the amount to get it back?” The answer is no. The four-page letter from US Customs and Border Protection FP&F unit confuses most who read it. Young adults also wonder if they can file a petition and get the car back right away. The rules governing Petition for Remission and Mitigation specifically say it js administrative, and there is no time limit and no process explained on how a decision is made. If you were the driver, the Forfeiture Law Firm of San Diego Defenders has seen mostly rejection after it is reviewed, and sometimes that can be 6 months. But if you do not take our advice, file a petition, and get rejected by the CBP, we can still help. We can withdraw your petition and file a claim if it is not beyond the time limit to respond of about 30 days. Young adults also ask us if their parents are going to find out if the car got seized. The answer is yes, they will. But have them call us at 619-258-8888, and we will explain that this whole mess will be way less than they thought, and we will take care of the details. Visit www.sandiegodefenders.com or call us today at 619-258-8888.
Many clients ask us at the Forfeiture Law Firm of San Diego Defenders if they will be charged if they try to get their vehicle back after CBP Customs impounds the car on suspicion of alien smuggling. If they were not charged, we have never seen the US Customs come back and charge the driver or the owner in the years I have been practicing federal defense in the United States District Court. Many clients do not know that we have successfully gotten back every car even if the owner does not have documentation! We arrange for documents to be delivered to our client so that a person with documentation can pick the car for them and they do not have to worry! Call us at (619) 258-8888 and we will explain that videos are not legal advice but when you retain us to represent you for a low down payment for a fee less than a DUI, we will give you all the legal advice you need. We follow the rules and get it done for you so you do not have to worry. Pick up the phone call us today at (619) 258-8888.
When your car is seized and impounded by Customs CBP because they detain you or your family for suspicion of alien smuggling, you will get a letter in the mail. The Notice of Seizure and Information to Claimants will include an Election of Proceedings. How do you want to try to get your vehicle back? If you file a petition in mitigation or an offer in compromise, you will be giving up a large part of your due process afforded by law. There seems to be no time limit! There seems to be no clear process for how they decide if they will give your car back! In the examples we show you in the video, it cost our clients anywhere from 3 1/2 months to 10 months more time without their car. They come to us and we have to withdraw the petition and start from scratch. How long can you go without your car … especially if you are still making payments. Call us at San Diego Defenders Forfeiture Law Firm at (619) 258-8888 and we will explain that this video is not legal advice, however, we have a very, very good track record of getting all the vehicles returned if we accept your case. Less than a DUI, payment plans and we do all the work for you so you don’t step on your own foot! Call us today at (619) 258-8888
At San Diego Defenders Forfeiture Law Firm, we get a LOT of calls from people looking for more information on how to get their car back from CBP after it has been seized. Then some file a Petition that is REJECTED 5 months later. Others file a Petition and go 7 months, 9 months, it varies, without a response from Border Patrol. The problem with filing a petition is that there is NO time limit on how long CBP and U.S. Customs can take! We are not telling you that you must hire us, but it is the smart thing to do. When we file a claim on your behalf, we invoke a 90-day limit for the United States Attorney to make a deal with San Diego Defenders’ Lawyers or file. In the hundreds of cases we have handled over the years, the United States Attorney assigned to the case has made a deal with our Forfeiture Law Firm within 90 days. There are, of course, a lot more details to discuss when you call us. However, the most important thing is getting an agreement to get your vehicle back within 90 days, and that is what makes our clients happy. We successfully get cars back in Texas, Arizona, and California, so call us we can help! Feel free to read our client reviews and then call us at (619) 258-8888, and we would be happy to help you before it becomes a real problem! For more information, check out our website at: https://forfeiturelawfirm.com/
San Diego Defenders Forfeiture Law Firm gets a lot of calls from Claimants who filed a petition for mitigation over 6 months prior only to get rejected. They are given 30 days to file an informal appeal and they call me in a panic state of mind. Dan Smith, Supervising Attorney at www.ForfeitureLawFirm.com will often tell them, "I can help and I will be dealing attorney to attorney with a 90-day timeline. I wish you would have contacted us first!" San Diego Defenders is located close to the CBP or Customs and Border Protection forfeiture office and understand the law very well and have a professional working relationship with FP&F office. The video explains why our small law firm never files a petition and how we help people get their cars back from CBP seizure impound successfully. Call us at (619) 258-8888!
Hi. My name is Dan Smith on the supervising attorney of San Diego Defenders Forfeiture Law Firm. Today, I'd like to talk to you a little bit about forfeiture and how it relates to the civil forfeiture that the government tries to use to take your vehicle away from you as opposed to criminal forfeiture or criminal law. Crimes are what you think they are like. If you commit murder or if you do something like assault somebody, you harm somebody. That's a crime. They will put you in jail. Civil law is when you're arguing over money, OK? When you're arguing over the ownership of a of a vehicle, for instance. So that's what forfeiture is about in this sense here. The government will take your property if they think it was used in the commission of a criminal offense. OK, so it's not what harmed somebody. It's what was used in the commission of a criminal offense. And that's a civil matter. And it's the proof is something less it's proof by a preponderance of the evidence versus proof beyond a reasonable doubt is what it takes in a criminal case. Preponderance of the evidence or 51% of the evidence is what it takes in a civil case.So we're here to help you with that. We're here to get your car back and we'll explain all of this to you. Give us a call it San Diego Defenders It's a little confusing, but we'll put it all into perspective for you.
This is Daniel Smith. I'm the supervising attorney at San Diego Defenders.com ForfeitureLawFirm.com And I'm here to talk to you today a little bit about the theory of civil seizure by Customs of CBP. The Government may takes your vehicle because you have illegal aliens or undocumented people in your car. That's for forfeiture. Your vehicle is seized under 21 USC 983. If you're driving along in your car and you might have some undocumented people in your car and that's considered aiding and abetting entry of illegal aliens and using your property or car in the commission of a criminal offense. OK so that's their theory of the case. It's a civil forfeiture. Never mind that you are not charged criminally. We help you to fight the civil case against your car and that is the complicated proceeding that they send you in the letter which includes the election or proceedings and the choices to petition or make a claim. CBP or Customs sends you the notice of seizure and information to claimants usually within 3 to 4 weeks. So call us up we can explain a little bit about what their theory is, about how we challenged that theory and how we get your car back. OK, so give us a call it San Diego Defenders 619258888. And I'll answer all your questions."
9 out of 10 people never file to get their property back from Customs, CBP or DEA. The Notice of Seizure and Information to Claimants letter is confusing. It includes an election of proceedings form and although it says no lawyer is needed, they threaten criminal penalties if you fill it out incorrectly. We deal lawyer to lawyer to get you vehicle back to you as soon as possible. We can help. That is our job! Why not get a qualified lawyer for a free case evaluation? Click here or call (619) 777-0000 today.
San Diego Defenders gets calls often from family members that have had their car seized by Custom or CBP when a car is being used by a family member. Can they get their car back from the Government without alerting CBP or ICE of their immigration status? Yes, but we are not allowed to say that. The short answer is that attorney Daniel Smith has historically gotten the vehicles back for our clients. We are not allowed to guarantee anything, but we can tell you that in the past we have been successful every time. There is a form in the Notice of Seizure and Information for Claimants CAFRA FORM letter that asks for sensitive information like whether you are a US Citizen or what is your “A-number” or where were you born and we fill that out for you. As your lawyers, we use the Constitution of the United States to protect you. So call paralegal specialist itzel Martinez or attorney Dan Smith and we can help you set up an affordable payment plan. When we explain that we charge a flat fee that is less to file for the return of your car than we do for the 1st time DUI, some people say “that’s cheap, how do you charge such a low flat fee?” The answer is that we want to help a lot of people because 9 out of 10 never even try to get their car back. If we do not think we can get it back we will tell you. But let me use my 32 years of experience to evaluate your case rather than you friend who knows a friend! San Diego Defenders wants to let you know that we fight to get your vehicle back and are very very successful. We will let you know if we think we can get it back or we will not take the case! Call us today at (619) 258-8888 and let’s get your car back from Customs or CBP!
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