San Diego Robbery Attorney

Facing a robbery charge in San Diego is frightening, and the stakes are real. Robbery is always a felony in California, it counts as both a serious and a violent felony, and a conviction becomes a strike on your record for life. The decisions made in the first days of a case — what gets said to police, whether bail is addressed properly, how quickly the defense investigation begins — can shape everything that follows.

Law Office of Marc S. Kohnen defends people accused of robbery under Penal Code 211 throughout San Diego County: examining the evidence closely, holding the prosecution to its burden on every element, and pursuing the strongest realistic result the facts allow — whether that is a dismissal, a reduction to a lesser charge, or a fight at trial.

What Is Robbery in California?

Robbery is defined in Penal Code 211 as the taking of personal property from another person or their immediate presence, against their will, by means of force or fear. What separates robbery from ordinary theft is the confrontation. There is no such thing as misdemeanor robbery — every robbery charge is a felony.

To convict, the district attorney must prove each of these elements beyond a reasonable doubt:

• Taking property: You took possession of someone else's property and moved it, even a short distance.
• From the person or immediate presence: The property was on the victim or within the area of their physical control — broader than arm's reach.
• Against the victim's will: The person did not consent to the taking.
• By force or fear: You used physical force, or fear of injury to the victim or someone else present, to accomplish the taking.
• Intent to steal: You intended to deprive the owner of the property permanently, or long enough to take away a major portion of its value.

What Counts as Force or Fear?

The force required is more than the incidental touching involved in simply lifting an item — it means physical force used to overcome the victim's resistance. But it does not take much: yanking a purse free when the owner holds on, shoving someone aside while taking their phone, or wrestling with a store employee over merchandise can all satisfy the force element.

Fear, under Penal Code 212, means fear of injury to the person being robbed, to their property or family, or to someone else present at the scene. No weapon and no explicit threat are required. But whether the alleged victim genuinely felt fear, and whether that fear caused them to give up the property, is often a contested question — and one of the first places a defense attorney looks.

Claim of Right: When You Believed the Property Was Yours

Robbery is a theft crime at its core, and theft requires the intent to take property belonging to someone else. If you took specific property in the good-faith belief that it was yours — even if that belief was mistaken — you may lack the intent to steal that robbery requires. California courts recognize this claim-of-right principle, though it has limits: it applies to the specific property taken, and courts have held it does not extend to using force to collect a debt. When it applies, it strikes at the heart of the charge.

Estes Robbery: When Shoplifting Becomes Robbery

One of the most common robbery scenarios in San Diego starts as ordinary shoplifting. Under a doctrine from a case called People v. Estes, a person who takes merchandise and then uses force or fear against a loss prevention officer or employee who tries to stop them can be charged with robbery — even though the original taking involved no confrontation at all.

The reasoning is that robbery is a continuing offense: it is not complete until the person reaches a place of temporary safety with the property. So if a security guard confronts a suspected shoplifter in the parking lot and the person pushes, struggles, or threatens the guard while still holding the merchandise, prosecutors will often file second-degree robbery rather than petty theft — turning a possible misdemeanor into a strike felony with prison exposure.

These cases are frequently more defensible than they first appear. Did the accused still have the merchandise when the struggle occurred? Was the contact force used to keep the property, or an attempt to pull away and leave? Who initiated it? In an Estes case, the gap between robbery and simple theft often comes down to a few seconds of video.

Robbery vs. Theft, Burglary, and Carjacking

People often use these terms interchangeably, but under California law they are distinct crimes with very different consequences:

• Theft (petty or grand theft, Penal Code 484 and 487) is taking property without force or fear — a pickpocket commits theft, not robbery. Grand theft can be a felony or a misdemeanor; robbery is always a felony.
• Burglary (Penal Code 459) is entering a building, room, or locked vehicle intending to commit theft or another felony inside. It requires no actual taking and no force or fear against a person. A single incident can sometimes be charged as both burglary and robbery.
• Carjacking (Penal Code 215) is taking a motor vehicle from someone's possession or immediate presence by force or fear. It is its own offense, punishable by three, five, or nine years in state prison, and is also a strike.
• Robbery (Penal Code 211) requires all of it together: a taking, from the person or their immediate presence, by force or fear.

The line between robbery and a lesser theft offense is often the single most important issue in the case — and it is frequently a line the defense can move.

Degrees of Robbery and Penalties Under Penal Code 213

First-Degree Robbery

Under Penal Code 212.5, robbery is charged in the first degree in specific circumstances:

• The robbery takes place in an inhabited dwelling — a home, an occupied hotel room, or similar living space.
• The victim is the driver or a passenger of a bus, taxi, rideshare, or other vehicle for hire.
• The victim is using an ATM, or has just used one and is still in the vicinity.

First-degree robbery is generally punishable by three, four, or six years in state prison. If the robbery is committed in an inhabited dwelling while acting in concert with two or more other people, the exposure rises to three, six, or nine years. Fines can reach $10,000.

Second-Degree Robbery

Every robbery that does not qualify as first degree is second-degree robbery — including most street robberies and nearly all Estes-type store cases. It is punishable by two, three, or five years in state prison, plus fines of up to $10,000.

In some cases, depending on the facts and the person's record, a court may grant felony probation instead of prison. It is far from automatic, but it is one of the outcomes a defense attorney works toward when the circumstances support it.

Why Robbery Is Treated So Severely: Strikes, Credits, and Enhancements

Robbery Is a Violent Felony and a Strike

Robbery is listed as a violent felony under Penal Code 667.5(c) and a serious felony under Penal Code 1192.7(c), so every robbery conviction — first or second degree — is a strike under the Three Strikes law. A prior robbery strike generally doubles the sentence on a later felony, and a third strike involving a new serious or violent felony can mean 25 years to life.

Because robbery is a violent felony, a person sentenced to prison is generally limited to 15 percent conduct credit — at least 85 percent of the sentence must actually be served. This little-understood limitation is a major reason why fighting the charge, or negotiating it down to a non-strike offense where the facts allow, matters so much.

Firearm Enhancements

If a firearm is alleged, the penalties escalate dramatically. Penal Code 12022.53 applies to robbery and adds, on top of the underlying sentence, ten years for personally using a firearm, twenty years for personally discharging one, and twenty-five years to life if a discharge causes great bodily injury or death. Other weapon allegations can add significant time as well.

Judges now have discretion to strike firearm enhancements in the interest of justice. Persuading a court or prosecutor that an enhancement should not apply — or challenging whether the object was actually a firearm, whether it was really used, or who used it — is often where a defense attorney can make the largest difference in the total sentence.

Attempted Robbery

You can be charged even if no property was taken. Attempted robbery requires intent plus a direct step toward committing the crime — a demand the victim refuses, for example. Attempted robbery is still a felony: attempted first-degree robbery is generally punishable at half the term for the completed crime under Penal Code 664, while Penal Code 213(b) gives attempted second-degree robbery its own state prison term — and either way, the conviction still carries strike consequences. Attempt cases often turn on what the accused actually intended and whether the conduct went beyond mere preparation — both fertile ground for the defense.

How a Robbery Case Moves Through San Diego Superior Court

Knowing what comes next removes some of the fear. A felony robbery case in San Diego County typically proceeds through these stages:

• Arrest and arraignment: You are advised of the charges and enter a plea. Bail and release conditions are addressed here, and having counsel at this first hearing matters.
• Preliminary hearing: The prosecution must show a judge probable cause to hold you for trial — generally within ten court days of arraignment if you are in custody. It is also the defense's first chance to cross-examine witnesses under oath.
• Information and motions: If the case is held to answer, the DA files an information in superior court. The defense can then bring a Penal Code 995 motion to dismiss charges unsupported by the preliminary hearing evidence, and a Penal Code 1538.5 motion to suppress illegally obtained evidence.
• Negotiation: Throughout the case, the parties discuss resolution — which can mean a reduction to a non-strike theft offense, dismissal of enhancements, or a probationary outcome, depending on the strength of the evidence.
• Trial: If no acceptable resolution is reached, the case is tried to a jury, and the prosecution must prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt.

Defenses to Robbery Charges

Law Office of Marc S. Kohnen builds the defense around the specific facts of your case. Robbery prosecutions have recurring weak points, and a thorough defense investigation probes all of them.

Mistaken Identity and Eyewitness Problems

Robberies happen fast, often at night, with the victim's attention fixed on a weapon or on getting away. Research — and California's own jury instructions — recognize that identifications made under stress are prone to error. Cross-racial identifications, suggestive photo lineups, brief viewing times, and delayed identifications all raise reliability questions. The defense examines how every identification was obtained, and whether police procedures pushed the witness toward a particular answer.

Surveillance and Digital Evidence

Many robbery cases rest heavily on surveillance video, and that video deserves close forensic attention: camera angles, frame rates, lighting, and timestamps can all change what the footage really shows. Video a prosecutor describes as showing force may, viewed carefully, show something more ambiguous — or a different person entirely. Cell phone location records and transaction logs deserve the same scrutiny.

No Force or Fear

If property was taken without force and without placing anyone in fear, the crime is theft, not robbery. Grand theft is generally not a strike and may even be reducible to a misdemeanor in some circumstances. Where the facts support it, driving the case down from robbery to a theft offense is often the most important single achievement in the defense.

Lack of Intent and Ownership Disputes

Robbery requires the intent to steal. If you believed in good faith that the specific property was yours, or if any force used was unconnected to the taking, the elements of robbery may not be met. These fact-intensive intent questions are exactly the kind of issue a jury — or a prosecutor evaluating the case — can be persuaded on.

Fourth Amendment Violations

If police stopped, searched, or arrested you without adequate legal justification, the evidence they found may be suppressed under Penal Code 1538.5. Robbery investigations move quickly, with officers detaining people near a scene on thin descriptions. When a detention or search crosses constitutional lines, suppression can remove the core of the prosecution's case, and in some cases leads to reduced charges or dismissal.

Frequently Asked Questions About Robbery Charges

Can a robbery charge be reduced to theft?

Sometimes, yes. When the evidence of force or fear is weak or the video is ambiguous, the defense may be able to negotiate a reduction to grand theft or another lesser offense, or persuade a jury to convict only on the lesser charge. Whether that is realistic depends on the facts of your case, but it can remove the strike and the violent-felony consequences.

Is robbery a strike in California?

Yes. Every robbery conviction, first or second degree, is both a serious and a violent felony, making it a strike under the Three Strikes law. Attempted robbery carries strike consequences as well. This is a central reason to contest the charge vigorously from the beginning.

The alleged victim doesn't want to press charges. Will the case be dropped?

Not automatically. In California, the district attorney — not the alleged victim — decides whether to file and pursue charges. A reluctant or recanting witness certainly affects the strength of the case, but no one should assume a robbery case will simply disappear because the victim has second thoughts. The case has to be defended.

What if no weapon was involved?

Robbery does not require a weapon — force or fear alone is enough. But an unarmed robbery generally carries far less exposure than an armed one, because the firearm enhancements do not apply. If a weapon is alleged and you dispute it, challenging that allegation is a priority: it can be the difference of a decade or more in sentencing exposure.

Act Now to Protect Your Future

A robbery conviction follows you permanently — as a strike, as a violent felony, and as a record that affects employment, housing, licensing, and immigration status. Whether you face first-degree or second-degree robbery, an Estes allegation from a shoplifting stop, or an attempted robbery charge, the time to put an experienced San Diego defense attorney to work is now, while evidence is fresh.

Law Office of Marc S. Kohnen defends robbery cases throughout San Diego County and will give you a straight assessment of your situation and your options. Don't wait. Contact us today for a confidential consultation — call now or fill out our online form to take the first step toward protecting your freedom and future.