Mary Frances Prevost - San Diego Criminal Defense Lawyer

Mission Statement

My practice focuses on the diligent and zealous defense of clients accused of felonies and misdemeanors in state and federal courts, the representation of clients during the pre-accusatory stage of police investigations, and the civil representation of clients whose rights have been violated by police abuse and/or government misconduct.

Experience

I graduated from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in 1983. I began my professional career as a newspaper reporter in the District of Columbia for The Washington Post, and later for WJLA-TV Channel 7, as an investigative reporter. After spending years as an investigative reporter in D.C., New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, where I uncovered government corruption at the local and national levels, I entered California Western School of Law in San Diego, California, so I could earn a law degree and fight government corruption and misconduct at a higher level.

I have worked for both the Federal Defender organization and the Public Defender’s Office, and presently run my own practice where I handle murder cases, border crimes, mail fraud, drug and alien smuggling, sexual assault, computer crimes, robbery cases, DUI’s, vehicular manslaughter, and other crimes.

I also handle complex civil rights litigation including excessive force/police brutality claims, sexual harassment and discrimination, racial discrimination, age discrimination, and other civil liberties violations in federal courts.

I am a contributing writer for the Criminal Defender Bar Association newsletter, and have taught seminars in Southern California on Police Misconduct Discovery, and select issues in DUI defense.

This year I was a guess speaker at the Southern California DUI seminar, and was chosen as a guess speaker to lecture on DUI defense at the annual State Bar Convention held in San Diego.

Attorney memberships:

• Board of Directors: Criminal Defense Bar Association
• National College for DUI Defense
• National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
• North County Criminal Defense Bar Association
• California Attorneys For Criminal Justice
• California Public Defenders Association
• California First Amendment Coalition
• Consumer Attorneys of San Diego
• California Deuce Defenders
• American Inns of Court

What's New:

Date: Nov. 8, 2000
I am amicus counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union on a case in which the United States District Court found unconstitutional a statute that allowed police officers to sue individuals who made complaints against them.

Date: Aug. 21, 2000
I filed a class action law suit against the City, County, Sheriff and others, on behalf of more than 10,000 citizens who were battered by unlicensed/unqualified individuals who drew blood from these citizens for use in DUI cases. The unlicensed/unqualified individuals masqueraded as nurses to secure consent from the unwitting citizen victims. These individuals did not follow scientific guidelines for the safe and reliable drawing of blood. The suit is presently pending in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.