Experience

JEFFREY DEAN SCHWARTZ is a California Criminal Defense Attorney who is based in Humboldt County. Serving as a Humboldt County and Mendocino County Lawyer in towns such as Eureka, Arcata, Ukiah, Garberville etc., he is a seasoned attorney as well as a very experienced criminal trial lawyer.

As a former San Francisco Criminal Defense Attorney, Senior Humboldt County prosecutor and a graduate of Columbia University in New York City and John Marshall School of Law in Chicago, he has been working as a criminal defense attorney since the early eighties, except for his recent stint at the Humboldt County DA's office. That experience gives him a keen knowledge advantage over his adversaries and just about every criminal defense lawyer in Humboldt County.

First and foremost Mr. Schwartz is an experienced trial lawyer. He has tried numerous cases up and down California from the smallest misdemeanors to death penalty murders. From his experience as a San Francisco Criminal Defense Attorney, Northern California Drug Lawyer and Humboldt County marijuana defense attorney, to cases involving Humboldt Domestic Violence, his successes include acquittals or dismissals in nearly every kind of case including murders, drugs, domestic violence, white-collar crime, robbery and more. 

JUST IN!: MR. SCHWARTZ' FEDERAL HABEAS PETITION CUTS DEFENDANT'S 110-TO-LIFE  SENTENCE TO 20 YEARS

BATTERED WOMAN ACQUITTED OF KILLING HER HUSBAND

A woman battered by her husband for more than 12 years grabbed a gun and shot him in the face killing him instantly with the gun he bought her. She was acquitted of all charges and walked out of the courthouse with her attorney Mr. Schwartz a free woman.  

DRUG TRAFFICKING CHARGES DISMISSED

Charges against a man accused of smuggling 16 pounds of cocaine from Mexico were dismissed when Mr. Schwartz challenged the prosecution’s evidence on technical grounds. 

TAXI DRIVER ACQUITTED OF MURDER

A  jury acquitted a taxi driver in just 30 minutes of all charges after hearing eyewitness testimony by his own daughter. Mr. Schwartz argued through expert testimony that the prosecution’s star witness was suffering from delusional visions when she thought she saw her father shoot the man.

NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBAL MEMBER RELEASED AFTER JURY DEADLOCKS IN HIS FAVOR AT HIS MURDER TRIAL

A court released a Native American man (who earlier had established sovereignty for tribal members on the reservation) after a jury deadlocked 9-3 in his favor where he was tried for murdering another man on the reservation. Mr. Schwartz showed the jury that the two prosecution eyewitnesses were drunk and unreliable.

A JURY DEADLOCKED IN A MAN’S FAVOR AFTER THE PROSECUTION ACCUSED HIM OF FIRST-DEGREE MURDER 

A San Francisco Man facing 26 years to life accepted a 3-year term for allegedly killing another man in cold blood after a jury in his murder trial deadlocked in his favor. Mr. Schwartz attacked the four prosecution witnesses showing that they were drunk, drugged and unstable.

A MAN SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS TO LIFE UNDER THE THREE-STRIKES LAW HAD HIS SENTENCE REDUCED TO NINE YEARS

A man convicted of felony drunk driving with three prior strikes and sentenced to 25 years to life had his sentence overturned after Mr. Schwartz filed a petition for habeas corpus. 

Education:
Columbia University, M.S., 1989
John Marshall Law School, J.D., 1979
California State University, B.A., 1974

Organizations/Past and Present
Admitted to the United States Supreme Court, California Supreme Court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the Central, Eastern and Northern California Federal District Courts, and all other California state courts.

Member of the California Supreme Court Death Penalty Panel, the First, Second and Fourth District Courts of Appeal appellate panels.

Member of the Murder/Death Trial Panel in San Francisco Superior Court.

Member of the California State Bar, Bar Association of San Francisco, National Lawyers Guild, California Attorneys for Criminal Justice and the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys.

Board Member of the award winning Machen Community Center for Developing Minds in San Francisco.

Committee Member of the Sierra Club legal defense committee, retired.

Board Member of the Hollywood Bar Association, retired.

Teaching:
Associate Professor and Law Instructor, Chapman University, Orange 1990-92. Taught Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Legal Research & Writing and Business Law on an adjunct basis.